Are you ready to escape futility of mind?

When I moved to Hawaii in 2003, I was surprised and delighted to discover the islands are free of poisonous critters such as snakes.

Let me be blunt: I hate snakes!

You may love them and have them as pets, but I have always hated snakes. I was delighted there were no slithering sneaks on the island!

But I was quite surprised to discover just how serious the state government of Hawaii is about keeping the state snake-free. No one is allowed to bring snakes into the state, but occasionally someone will sneak one in. When they do, it seems they invariably wind up missing. But guess what, Hawaii actually has a special strike force that is activated when a snake is sighted or reported, and that team will do whatever it takes to scour the islands until the snake is found and removed.

When I first heard about such an aggressive position about keeping snakes out, I had to wonder why the state was so adamant about no snakes allowed. I learned that Hawaii wanted to protect its paradise of an environment from what had happened in other places, such as in Guam. Dave Branon describes the dangerous impact snakes had on the island of Guam in a report from 2000:

Guam is crawling with snakes. Slithering brown tree snakes are killing the birds of the beautiful island nation and threatening the citizens’ way of life. The people, of course, want to keep the snakes out.

These snakes are not native to Guam. They came as stowaways on airplanes from Micronesia, and they have multiplied by the thousands. Known for their voracious appetites, the snakes have wiped out 9 of the island’s 11 native bird species. They also threaten other islands with which Guam trades.

The Hawaiian state government is serious about keeping snakes off their islands because of the death and destruction they bring to other animal species. Branon uses the threat of these snakes as an illustration of the danger sin is to any life:

Just as these deadly snakes are a danger to Guam, so our sins are a danger to us if we don’t deal decisively with them. Sins such as lust, sexual impurity, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying can show up in the lives of Christians (Colossians 3:5-9). Like snakes, such sins can grow, multiply, and eventually dominate us. They can also destroy our effectiveness in serving Christ and damage our testimony for Him.

We can’t afford to play with fire
Nor tempt the serpent’s bite;
We can’t afford to think that sin
Brings any true delight. – Anon.

Sins are like snakes on an island; keep them out, or they can take over.

Being both an ordained minister and a Christian clinical therapist, the danger of sin is seen blatantly in that intersection of theology and psychology where we see the deadly results of sin is a futile mind, something the apostle Paul sternly and fiercely warns against:

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness,” Ephesians 4:17-19 (NASB).

A result of the bite of sin is to suffer from a futile mind. It is no wonder, then that Paul tells us God wants to transform our minds (Ro. 12:2, Eph. 4:23). As a therapist, I witness up close and personal the futility of mind so many try to build a life with.

It doesn’t work, a point David Egner attempts to make in an article titled, “A Wasted Life”:

… In the book Papillon, the main character dreams that he is on trial. The judge says he is being charged with the most terrible crime that a person can possibly commit. When Papillon asks what it is, he is told, “The tragedy of a wasted life.”

“Guilty!” says Papillon, weeping. “Guilty.”

There are people all around us whose lives have no meaning or hope. They’re caught in the web of sin, living “in the futility of their mind.”

Instead of allowing the snake of sin to so ruin your life that you suffer from a futile mind, Paul wants us to be as diligent as a snake strike force to keep sin out of our lives …

“But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy,” Ephesians 4:20-24.

It is an awful waste of life to attempt to live by futility of mind, especially when you don’t have to! God wants to change our lives by transforming our minds and delivering us from that “darkened understanding” that comes from sin.

Have you let the Spirit “renew you thoughts and attitudes,” or are you still trying to make some kind of life out of a futile mind?

Scotty