For this devotional, we will be looking at the last four helps for the season of duty. (If you would like a review, please see the last devotional). Here is help number 7:
7. When you are disturbed by vain thoughts, humble yourself before God, and call in assistance from Heaven. When the messenger of Satan buffeted St. Paul by wicked suggestions, (as is supposed) he mourned before God on account of it. Never slight wandering thoughts in duty as small matters; follow every such thought with a deep regret. Turn to God with such words as these: ‘Lord, I came hither to commune with thee, and here a busy adversary and a vain heart, conspiring together, have opposed me. O my God! what a heart have I! shall I never wail upon thee without distraction? when shall I enjoy an hour of free communion with thee? Grant me thy assistance at this time; discover thy glory to me, and my heart will quickly be recovered. I came hither to enjoy thee, and shall I go away without thee? Behold my distress, and help me!’—Could you but sufficiently bewail your distractions, and repair to God for deliverance from them, you would gain relief.
It can be tempting to see a wandering mind during our times of duty to God as a small matter. But this is a great mistake! Treating God in this way is to treat Him lightly, as if He Himself were an equal or someone common, who has no significance. In other words, to treat God lightly is to scorn Him: treating Him so far off from who He is. This is a terrible sin that seeks to diminish His majesty, awesome power, glory, and holiness. What, again, is the chief end of man? It is to glorify God and enjoy (partake of His benefits) Him forever! So, by letting our minds wander and thinking little of it, we are, in fact, doing the exact opposite of what God has designed for us to do. It is working contrary to everything that He desires. Nothing can be more insulting to a holy God. Yet, God does give us help for this, if only we will recognize Him for who He is (which leads to humility), and call on Him for help. He will help those whose hearts seek Him to overcome this terrible sin.
8. Look upon the success and the comfort of your duties, as depending very much upon the keeping of your heart close with God in them. These two things, the success of duty and the inward comfort arising from the performance of it, are unspeakably dear to the Christian; but both of these will be lost if the heart be in a listless state. “Surely God heareth not vanity, nor doth the Almighty regard it.” The promise is made to a heart engaged: “Then shall ye seek for me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts.” When you find your heart under the power of deadness and distraction, say to yourself, ‘O what do I lose by a careless heart now! My praying seasons are the most valuable portions of my life: could I but raise my heart to God, I might now obtain such mercies as would be matter of praise to all eternity.’
Help eight is the opposite of letting our minds be distracted and take God lightly. All of your duties to God will be worthless if your heart is not being kept on God in them. God will not listen to you unless your heart (entire self) is seeking to submit to His will. This means not using your duty as something that is for pursuing your own desires or wants, but rather for pursuing what God desires and wants. He is the One that our duty is for, and the purpose of those duties is not to get what I want, but to carry out the desires of our heavenly Father. May we never forget this! For this is key to keeping our heart on God! He and He alone is our pursuit in our duties (as it is to be in the rest of our lives as well). Everything else—serving the poor, caring for our family, the church, etc.—is to happen through our devotion and singular loyalty to the Father. None of these things can be divorced from this. And, likewise, the effectiveness in which we do these things, and the glory that it brings to God, are all dependent upon keeping our hearts on God during our times of duty! Keeping our hearts during those times will filter into the rest of life. So, seek the eternal, and not merely the external doing of things. The difference is between bringing God glory, and acting as one who profanes and makes light of His Name.
9. Regard your carefulness or carelessness in this matter as a great evidence of your sincerity, or hypocrisy. Nothing will alarm an upright heart more than this. ‘What! shall I give way to a customary wandering of the heart from God? Shall the spot of the hypocrite appear upon my soul? Hypocrites, indeed, can drudge on in the round of duty, never regarding the frame of their hearts; but shall I do so? Never—never let me be satisfied with empty duties. Never let me take my leave of a duty until my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.’
A person satisfied with a wandering heart and mind when in the presence of God is not a man after God. Such a man is nothing more than a hypocrite who uses Christian duty for worthless gain. Such a man’s focus is on whatever happens to enter his mind at the moment, showing that his heart is set on many things—but not set on God. Let this be a litmus test for us to see the state of our hearts! Many professing Christians fall into the category of hypocrisy, having the form of godliness but denying its power—the transforming power of God’s grace unto salvation and godliness. So, when you find your heart wandering in this time, may it bother you and spur you towards repentance and calling out to God for help. Distraction happens to all people in times of duty, but the difference between a hypocrite and a genuine believer is that the former will embrace those vain thoughts, while the latter will come to be bothered by those distractions, repent of them, and seek to be ridden of them.
10. It will be of special use to keep your heart with God in duty, to consider what influence all your duties will have upon your eternity. Your religious seasons are your seed times, and in another world you must reap the fruits of what you sow in your duties here; if you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption; if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting. Answer seriously these questions: Are you willing to reap the fruit of vanity in the world to come? Dare you say, when your thoughts are roving to the ends of the earth in duty, when you scarce mind what you say or hear, ‘Now, Lord, I am sowing to the Spirit; now I am providing and laying up for eternity; now I am seeking for glory, honor and immortality; now I am striving to enter in at the strait gate; now I am taking the kingdom of heaven by holy violence!’ Such reflections are well calculated to dissipate vain thoughts.
Focusing on the eternal has gotten only a passing mention so far in the season of duty. Now it is described as contrary to seeking after the flesh. There is only this contrast: sowing to the flesh or sowing to the Spirit. The heart paints everything, making all things either a service to God or a serving to wickedness. Even the most seemingly holy activities become exercises of fleshliness when the heart is not kept to God. And those seemingly gray things within the realm of Christian liberty, when even these things are not subject to God from our heart, they too become fleshly. That is why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 8, taught that it is better to give up our freedoms if only to love God and neighbor better than to persist in them to the detriment of not only ourselves but others. There is no area in life that is apart from keeping the heart, and no freedom that cannot be corrupted. Because of this, keeping our hearts in our duty is supremely important, if we are to have any heavenly reward; a reward that centers around the One to Whom we owe our duty.
Next time we will be starting season seven: the season of receiving injuries and abuses from men.