Beg of God a mortified fancy. Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Location 816). . Kindle Edition.
If imaginations be not first cast down, it is impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ. The fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power of the soul. Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Locations 819-820). . Kindle Edition.
“fancy”:
to believe mistakenly or without evidence
to believe without being certain
“fanciful”:
marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience
existing in fancy only <a fanciful notion
marked by or as if by fancy or whim <gave their children fanciful names.
The fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power of the soul.
We dream. We imagine how it might be. In desperation or ignorance we grasp at straws. We build castles in the air – out of air. We live in an “if only,” world.
If only this and if only that and our lives would be good.
We harbor fears, terrifying fears.
This is “fancy,” the imagination running amuck, the imagination not captive to the Word and the Spirit.
If imaginations be not first cast down, it is impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ. Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Locations 819-820). . Kindle Edition.
Godly hope is perverted by fancy. Fancy looks to the flesh for solutions. Fancy is an idolater. Fancy robs us of our ability to comprehend the Word, yield to the Spirit and submit to God. We run here and there looking for something or someone to provide for our needs and bring us contentment, and we find it not.
Jer 2:12-13 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, (13) for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
This is the power of fancy, of ungodly imaginations.
The object can be a person, a group, a gadget, luck, or even a misunderstanding of the Word or the leading of the Spirit. When the imagination is not fenced in by the truth, by the sovereignty, providence and truth of God, it is deadly.
There is little in our world as deadly to our fancy/imaginations as is the entertainment we select for ourselves. TV, movies, books, etc. are, for the most part, fiction. Even the “reality” shows we watch are hardly “real.” Oh, maybe they’re not scripted but “real”? I don’t think so.
We watch, read or listen to the offerings of the world so we might relax and be entertained and, yet, how often do we really reflect on what we are watching in the light of God’s truth? The old quip, “If Jesus came to your home would you watch, read, or listen to what you now engage in while He was there”? is not without merit.
Patti and I used to watch a show called The Gilmore Girls. It was cute and relatively clean but over time we realized how dysfunctional almost every character on the show was. As we looked at the show in light of the truth, I actually got to where I was nauseous whenever it came on. We realized that we were being entertained by one of the clearest demonstrations of man’s hopelessness we had ever seen – and we had found it – “entertaining.” It was poison – plain and simple.
Then there are the Real Housewives of . . . . . shows. Really? These are housewives?
There is no God in their world – only self and yet we watch these shows as though they were entertaining. If we must watch. it should be to identify men and women who are willing to expose their godless and hopeless lives to the whole world – so we can pray for them – by name and need. [WHY MUST WE WATCH???]
**Patti's comments:
"I still don't see a need to expose our minds and hearts to these shows as opposed to any other type of programs- promoting-glamorizing-endorsing ungodli-unrighteus behavior. they are not exactly documentaries of some aberrant society or sect. these shows bring fame to the people and draw many into unhealthy fantasies about that lifestyle. Yes, the actual desperation and hopelessness can be seen-but reality is only seen by those who already know it is there - not to those who are still aspiring to obtain that status. Certainly, a steady diet of these shows is not necessary to determine the need and lostness of the people in them, any more than it is needed to determine the depravity portrayed in "fictional" shows. So much for my soap-box!"
Oh, let’s not forget the “rehab” shows where we get to see how well a godless person can overcome an addiction. Yeah, Dr. Drew is a sweet and caring guy – but why do so many of his patients show up again and again and again?
All of this manure gets in our minds. It contradicts the truth and seduces us into some vague middle ground where the truth is not. Just like arsenic, it is cumulative and over time it will poison our godliy thinking to death. It weaves itself into our thought patterns whether we realize it or not. Ultimately, it will win – unless we cut it off, repent and turn to that fountain of living water.
Soli Deo Gloria: Means essentially that everything that is done is for God's glory to the exclusion of humankind's self-glorification and pride. Christians are to be motivated and inspired by God's glory and not their own.
We have to ask if our fancies and imaginings are for the glory of God. But without the tools and effort, how can we tell? Ignorance and apathy are boon companions.
How ignorant are you of how to glorify God? How apathetic are you concerning your Christian disciplines and duties? One will always feed the other.
We are far from where He would have us and though He has promised to see us through to the end, the quality of the journey has a good deal to do with our exercise of the graces, duties and disciplines He has laid out for our benefit.
Though the context is not parallel to this discussion, the statement is nonetheless applicable when Paul proclaims:
1Co 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I think we are safe in taking this proclamation as our motto, our battle cry in the world – everyday – in our labor and in our leisure. I see no danger in praying that in our labor and our leisure we be enabled and convicted to know nothing except Christ, and Him crucified.
Such a fence around our fancies and imaginings will serve us well in mortifying (killing) them so that they cease to poison our minds, hearts and actions.
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