The temptation of such a narcissistic way of thinking isn’t embraced suddenly. Before it can plant itself into someone’s mind, the soil (so to speak) of the mind must be made ready. This is accomplished subtly, as one fiery dart after another gains entrance. Over a period of time then an individual’s mind becomes ripe for the planting.
I want you to understand something though. Satan dangles this choice fiery dart before each and every one of us. But remember, it is what is within us that determines whether we will open our minds to it or not.
So, what happens in the minds of those open to an ‘it’s all about me’ mentality?
Self and what self desires become the rule of thought. Eventually, they will rationalize away anything that keeps them from doing what they want to do–even if what they want to do is illegal or immoral, etc. If doing something makes them unhappy, then they won’t do it, instead they will do whatever it is that does make them happy. Because:
Achieving personal happiness is all that really matters.
Fiery darts poison the thinking of someone who is driven by this mentality. That thinking fashions and shapes attitudes, then actions, to the point that the very definitions in their mind of right or wrong become challenged. Therefore, right becomes whatever makes them happy (because remember, It’s all about me). Wrong becomes whatever makes them unhappy.
Truth no longer means what it use to mean! As fiery dart thinking moves and shapes those caught up in it to find ways to justify their self centeredness, it should come as no surprise that a simple act of redefining Truth, would open the doors to the freedom for which they so long desired.
In recent months and days, we have witnessed the lengths those who are entrapped by fiery dart thinking will go to, in the name of achieving personal happiness. In addition, those whose thinking has been negatively influence by fiery dart thinking seem to be waging a campaign to have punished those whose desire is not to condemn but to live by their religious convictions.
Individuals whose minds have been clouded and confused by fiery darts (temptations which they have embraced) are unaware that they have been manipulated to exchange true freedom (freedom that in the past was called license) for a life of bondage.
There is a pathway that seems right to a man, but in the end it’s a road to death. Proverbs 14:12 (ISV)
The answer to their dilemma, therefore, is found in:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
A Truth Thought when embraced will empower them to deflect fiery dart thinking that has held them in bondage;
Then you (they) will know the truth, and the truth will set you (them) free. John 8:32 (NIV)
