A. W. Tozer wrote "Every soul belongs to God, and exists by His pleasure. God being who and what He is and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full Lordship on His part and complete submission on ours."

Psalm 1 says this:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers [Paraphrase: Blessed is the man who does not so abide in his culture that the ways of his culture abide in him];

…But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night [By spiritual disciplines he abides in God's Word and God's Word abides in him],

…He is like a tree planted by streams of water [The tree does not plant itself; we do daily plant ourselves by the source of nourishment we choose; the question is where—talk radio, TV, movies, video games, magazines, newspaper, God's Word, books that call upon God's Word?]

…which yields it fruits in season [The spiritual disciplines will make a noticeable life difference in the long run, bearing good and obvious fruit]

…and whose leaf does not wither [Producing perseverance and longevity and consistency in the spiritual life]

…Whatever he does prospers [A successful life, in God's eyes, involves stepping back even from the things our culture thinks constitute success to abide in our Lord and His Word; apart from Him we can do nothing; if we abide in Him we are a success by His measurement: and His measurement is all that matters.]

It all goes back to choosing to put our bodies at God's disposal, to meditate upon His Word and obey it. But how can we obey what is not first in our minds, and how can it be in our minds unless we carve out the time and take actual steps to put it there? Only then will we be able to identify, filter out and reject the world's wisdom and values and temptations that constitute a false worldview, a death-giving alternative to the life-giving gospel of God's kingdom.

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