“Look carefully then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16).

Our walk has much to do with our thoughts, and we are to take every one of them captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 5). A tall order, but Paul gives some excellent advice to Christians in the matter of thought control. In Philippians 4:8 he lists a whole range of descriptions such as pure, lovely, commendable, excellent as to where to focus our thoughts. This has proved absolutely true to me – knock out the bad thought and replace it with a good one.

To be honest though, I have had some difficulty with this lately. I like to read a good book during the daylight hours, but find it’s easier on the eyes to watch television later in the evening.

The news channels consist of reports on crime, corruption, and gender based violence, to name a few, and do little to encourage good thoughts, so I dispense with them fairly early.

Travel should be a way of seeing the world without too much painful thought, but no sooner have I focused on a beautiful Greek island than there is a horrific description of destruction during World War 2.

The History channel gets interesting at times, but all too often it’s about the history of warfare. (What was our school history curriculum all about anyway)?

Wild life – that should be the solution. Animals in their natural environment – just as God intended them to be. But no, they eat each other, fight each other and compete for ‘top dog’ positions.

I can watch  whole programs on deadly disasters, engineering errors and air crash investigations.

Finally there’s a world famous veterinary doctor who performs amazing operations on any animals from rats to horses. Sometimes there are some cute puppies on the show, but you’re just as likely to see him drawing pus out of an abscess or pulling a dead calf from the back end of a cow.

Seriously though, the Christian life is about swimming upstream.  We absolutely need to focus on the good, pure uplifting things. The days are indeed evil, and though we look forward with great longing to the second coming of Jesus, the book of Revelation  leaves us in no doubt about the near future.

One thing I have found to be helpful is to switch off the TV and get into bed with a good book by a Christian author – my favourite being Philip Yancey.

Just as I am about to switch off my bedside light…there’s that fly again! Will there be flies in the Kingdom of God? Somehow I don’t think so!