“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16

The other day, I watched a video in which an old man said this: scientific tests have established that the blood of an angry person is poisonous simply by reason of him being angry. Shocking? It surely is! That is merely the bad effect anger can have on the physical wellbeing of someone. Guess how much more devastating this can be for our spiritual life? Are you able to pray God when you are angry? How likely is it that you will control your words and attitude when you are angry? And what testimony are you unconsciously sharing with those you may soon be willing to share Gospel with?

We already know that infection in the physical world is both the root and the route to sickness and diseases, which can ultimately lead to death. And because we want to keep our loved ones safe, we invest quality time teaching our children how they need to make an ally of hygiene. They must wash their hands before eating, wash themselves a number of times a day, wash their clothes including their underwear and dry then in the sun, keep their rooms clean, etc.

Just like our bodies, our hearts need attention for them to be free from some specific types of infections. If anger alone can produce the impact described above, imagine what the result would be should jealousy, bitterness, resentment, worry, lust, guilt, lack of forgiveness, etc. add to it! They will take so much room that the Holy Spirit will hardly find a place in us, let alone filling us.

In fact, these spiritual infections are keeping many a Christian far from their blissful destinies by distracting them from what their real focus should be on. There is urgency for action here and two critical steps are to be taken: firstly we need to flush these things out of our life to make room for God to come and dwell in us; secondly, we need to decide never again to let any of these destiny killers find their way back into our lives (Job 22:28).

The Bible teaches us in Proverbs 4:23 to keep our heart with all diligence “(…) for out of it are the issues of life.” And a Nigerian adage says that “a man that is roasting corns does not walk too far”. Therefore let’s be deliberate in keeping our hearts free from those infections!