April 30, 2024 -- I John 4:1a -- Alone with your thoughts: is that great or grievous?

Beloved. do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…
I John 4:1a ESV

Dear friends in Jesus, yesterday I heard Chaplain Peter give his introduction to chaplaincy. He was speaking to those who are new to prison. He noted that in the next province (I was in Nova Scotia) there is a prison called Dorchester. The second part of its name tells a lot about the reason it was built. It is Dorchester Penitentiary. Very odd. Most people do not know what penance is. Or what a penitentiary is.

Think of where monks went. They went to monasteries. There they lived in cells. They went to contemplate their lives, to discern (to test) what is from God and what is worldliness. The world throws so many distractions at you. Radio. TV. Videos. Cell phones. Work. Play. Entertainment. Sports. The list is nearly endless. Even in a monastery a monk’s thoughts were filled with wicked thoughts and ungodly impulses. Over time they were trained to spend time in their cells thinking about God, reading the Bible and actively governing their thought life.

About 100 years ago, the idea caught on that Corrections Canada should build prisons along the same model. Where men would be placed in cells so they could think about their past, their actions, and learn a new way of living. The problem is, many committed their crimes in order to avoid alone time and avoid their thoughts. Now, the real torture is being alone 20 hours a day with nothing to do or think about and be tormented by thoughts which plague.This struck a chord for the men listening to Chaplain Peter. Many of them were visibly moved when he told them how hard it is to have alone time and have thoughts as one’s only companion. Especially a mind where the patterns of thoughts have never been governed. As a Christian man, I know this is an important message for us all.

The Bible calls men and women to turn from the sinful ways of the world. To test the spirits of this age. Whatever is being presented to you—is it lust, or greed, or violence, or anger, or sensual, or sexual, or anything else which will lead you to other sorts of sin? Then, having tested, or discerned, what is at the heart of the temptation, you can make a wise choice. Run from sin. Turn to God. Repent and believe.

The Word calls on believers to confess Jesus Christ. Any thought, deed, or impulse that would pull one away from the Savior must be thrown to the ground. So that believers can fully, at all hours, live in obedience to Jesus. This takes a life-time of practice. It also explains why many men, after being incarcerated for a while, turn from sin, run from their wicked thoughts and find in Jesus the relief they’d never before had. Suddenly the relevance of chaplaincy is driven home to the hearts and the minds of the men: what do I do with my thoughts, with being alone? There is an answer. What a glorious Savior we serve—He goes to the hurting and the humbled and brings them salvation.

O God, Whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive; receive our humble petitions; and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us; for the honour of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
Divine Service for the Armed Forces, 1950, page 12

https://youtu.be/tP49cL4XJDw?si=tRfdpYm1x9ObMW2H “Remember Not, O God”

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