As I write this article, it is sunburn season. Many will be cautious, for good reason, to be sprayed or lathered from head to toe if they are going to be out all day in the summer sun. We are more prone to consider this after having a family member treated with skin cancer and after doing funerals of those dying from melanoma. As serious and cautious as we should be about this, I am more concerned about the spiritual issue often surrounding a different type of sunburn, one not of the skin, but of the mind, heart, or feelings (the psyche of an individual). This “psychological sunburn”, too easily acquired, is the condition of being easily burned in spirit, too easily irritated by various subject matter, and often because the discussion makes suggestion that does not fit the individuals preference or chosen current situation. This is a season we can do without.

Friends, it happens in friendships, in family, and all too often in matters of faith. Year in and year out, some in both the public and the people of God’s church get upset, change their view of someone, or even leave a place simply because the taught Word doesn’t match their past experience or present desire. How can we avoid having this “sunburn of the heart”, and keep far from its consequences? Although there are more things than this to suggest, today I want to offer just two things which can help in avoiding the temptation or habit of contracting spiritual “psychological sunburn.”

1. Remember that one must base his faith on what he reads God intends, not on what he hopes God will permit. Jesus, praying to his Father, said there was one truth and prayed his disciples would be sanctified by only it (“your word is truth”; John 17:17).
2. Pray God’s blessings on your own heart. Pray that you will not be clouded by some past experience or some present desire. Our prayers should be like those of David, the “man after God’s own heart”, when he asked God not to make his own way okay, but to lead David “in the way that is everlasting.” (Psalm 139:24)

Those that are truly loving us are those that are pointing us toward the mind of will of God. Consider the message more than the messenger. Purpose to have a great spiritual week.

ANDY CONNELLY