As we try to grow closer to God, we try to stop doing things that offend Him. We obey the “Thou shalt nots”.
Then, if we’re granted sufficient grace, we work to avoid saying hurtful, vain, or grandiose words that He will find offensive.
When we reach that level of awareness, we are given to understand that He is as offended as much by thinking vain thoughts as by saying vain words and doing vain deeds.
Another approach works. We may begin the process of making ourselves more acceptable to Him by deciding: “I will work to avoid thinking any thought that God finds displeasing. Any time I catch myself thinking any thought that He would disapprove, I will stop.” As we do that, the words and deeds that spring from our thoughts tend to become more pleasing to Him.
At some point, often prompted by a Scriptural passage, (for example, Matthew 10;1 “Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.”) we become aware that sins begin when an evil spirit brings its living corruption into our mind and soul.
Spiritual corruption, if allowed to root and grow, cannot help but manifest itself in more erroneous thoughts, followed by words, and deeds. To more thoroughly solve our underlying problem, we must recognize the need to go beyond cleaning up our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Erase & Restore
Asking The Loving Programmer to help us erase the living errors within us and restore our programs is the most important work we have. He has written and downloaded The Program, and us within It, in such a way that we are the only ones who can make the request that is necessary to save our souls. We can only access the necessary programming assistance to purify our operating system by asking for it. That process usually begins when someone who loves us asks The Loving Programmer to send at least one of His Angelic Programming Assistants to help us save ourselves from the living errors; the swarming viruses that corrupt our individual operating system.
As we ask for the spiritual help to eliminate the source of the errors within us, we increasingly understand that offensive beings have made a home for themselves in our minds. They encourage us to hurt ourselves and others.
The physical world abounds in allegories that have been provided to help us understand the attacks on our souls. Tapeworms, ticks, germs, and viruses will, if we give them the opportunity, weaken and destroy our bodies. Such beings are symbols of the corrupt spirits that work to weaken our souls. Evil beings gleefully manifest themselves prompting us to say hurtful words and do hurtful things to ourselves and others.
Our most important job on this earth is to get evil thoughts, words, and desires out of our minds before they, living beings of often great subtlety, use us to hurt someone else. We don’t want them to hasten our own ruin as they cement our souls in sin.
