The growth of the environmental movement has helped us focus on the impact we humans are having on this planet. While there are some sceptics with respect to climate change, nobody has any doubts regarding pollution.
Pollution is local and personal. You can see it clearly with your own eyes whether it is rubbish on the street, plastic products or chemicals in the waterways, toxic smog over our cities or coastline damage from oil spillages. These are just some of the pollutants adversely impacting our environment.
But the worst pollution of all is doing much greater damage to mankind. It is more deadly and sinister than any of these others. The worst pollution is the pollution of the mind and spirit of man.
Physical pollutants may damage the environment but the pollution of the mind destroys individuals, relationships and communities. We are cleaning up waterways, reducing litter, toxic smog and gases that destroy the ozone layer, but the pollution of the mind and spirit is widely unrecognized and getting worse.
The Bible says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
It is through your senses and mainly your eyes that you absorb information from the world around you. This information will either give you the light of understanding if you seek what is good, or it will fill you with the darkness of evil, misunderstanding and folly if you seek what is wrong.
A mind polluted with evil does not and cannot do what is good, right and true in the sight of God nor of man because it cannot think right. Are not all criminal acts the actions of those whose minds have been polluted to believe what they are doing is OK? A polluted mind accepts that doing evil is acceptable…as long as you don’t get caught!
But the pollution of the mind does not just relate to criminals, miscreants and the like. They are just the extremes. We are being bombarded daily through the media with messages promoting evil as being good. We even glorify the roles of spin-doctors whose sole purpose is to put a positive spin on something negative. And we often blindly accept these messages without question. Is it any wonder we cannot think right today.
Where does such pollution of the mind and spirit lead? Declining moral standards, no respect for authority, acceptance of evil as being good and ever decreasing standards of behaviour. This should not be so but we tolerate this because anyone who stands against it is condemned as opposing free speech, impinging on the rights of others or just being a wowser.
You may already have the seeds of evil thinking without even knowing it. Most people, Christian or not, accept that the tenets of the Ten Commandments are basically good moral principles to live by. Consider then just a few of those:
- Have you ever stolen? (This includes taking materials from work, keeping the change when cashiers give you too much, accepting unauthorized/pirate copies of downloaded music, films or software and so on.)
- Have you ever told lies? (How about cheating on your tax return or taking a day off work as sick leave when you are not ill?)
- I hope you have not committed adultery but the New Testament says that if a man ever just looks at a woman lustfully then he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
These are just three of the Ten Commandments and not too many people can truthfully say they have not succumbed in some way to one of these.
So what can you do to overcome this? Take the advice given in the Bible in Philippians 4:8 which says, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
The key word in the section above is “think.” You cannot do anything to change the way others think but you can seek out and stand up for what is right in your own life by changing the way you think. Regardless of anyone else you can begin to think right. What you set your mind on determines who you are and how you behave. Perhaps by your example others may be swayed to likewise change their behaviours without you even saying a word. Actions do truly speak louder than words.
I hope that you found something here to help you or add to your own knowledge. If you have any questions, then please feel free to contact me.
