Sometimes the “real” battle is in our minds; it’s the argument we have within ourselves to either take a step toward our destiny or shrink away from it. We are at war with our thoughts in a continual struggle between the voices of condemnation, doubt, and fear on the one hand, or confidence, encouragement, and love on the other. A conflict between who we think we are and who we were created to be. We have to have this battle before we can ever know what experiences we may encounter, what dangers or blessings lie ahead, shaping us into who we may become.

It’s really just a matter of making up our minds. We have to decide whether we’ll go along with the pursuits of this world, or set out intentionally to follow God, holding fast to His promises, walking in all His ways. Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6 that we should make God’s ways a part of who we are; that we should not become devoted to any of the other “gods” those around us worship.  This is not an easy road to take, especially with all the distractions, traps really, we are presented with in our daily lives. Moses also says “to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength,” and that we should be ever aware of God’s gifts to us, that we should never forget where we have been and how we have been delivered into our “promised” land. We must live in this world, but we dare not be of it, and every day we must fight, stand-up to the temptations we face, and trust that God’s way is, at the end of the day, the best way to live, the only choice that makes sense in a world that’s too wrapped up in itself, too self-obsessed to even care about its neighbor, let alone to love its neighbor as itself.

As David writes in Psalm 15:

¹ Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

Who may live on your holy mountain?

² The one whose walk is blameless,

who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from their heart;

³ whose tongue utters no slander,

who does no wrong to a neighbor,

and casts no slur on others;

⁴ who despises a vile person

but honors those who fear the Lord;

who keeps an oath even when it hurts,

and does not change their mind;

⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest;

who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things

will never be shaken.

~SLM