It is ironic that this post is taking place the week leading up to the biggest, most important election America has ever seen. The values and goals of each candidate couldn’t be more different and whomever is chosen to lead our country will be the one God has ultimately chosen for His plans and purposes.  Will you pray for the future of our country? And be sure to vote next week; it is our privilege as citizens of this great country.

Gary Thomas explains in his book, Seeking The Face Of God, the third theme for a Quiet Life:

3. A Limited Curiosity – Simplicity frees us from being tabloid Christians. Whenever we smell a scandal, local or national, we usually want all the messy details. In this we’re spiritual Peeping Toms. We may try to cover our curiosity with prayerful concern or feigned love, but often we just want to satisfy our own spiritual lusts.

We have to realize we don’t need to know all that we want to know; we need to cultivate the discipline of letting go of cares that don’t concern us. We need to trust God and those He has placed in leadership. If someone is not accountable to us, we don’t need to know the details. Our responsibility is not to figure out everything, but to keep ourselves at peace.

Curiosity kills our souls. Climacus urged, “Stay away from what does not concern you, for curiosity can defile stillness as nothing else can.”

In this information age it is hard to avoid this tendency. Everywhere we look someone is saying something about someone else that peeks our curiosity. So we go on Google and search the topic, we scroll through Facebook updates to see if what we’ve heard is true. We literally have the world and it’s headlines at our fingertips. How is it possible to avoid this tidal wave of useless knowledge?

The answer is simple, but not easy.

We must guard our minds as well as our hearts. We hear bad news and are instantly anxious of the outcome. This is expected if the news affects us personally, but if it doesn’t, we must resist the temptation to know more!

Thomas makes an excellent analogy that we believe will help:

I can’t afford to respond to every appeal for money that crosses my desk…my mind is no less valuable and every bit as finite as my wallet, so I’m going to conserve my thoughts no less than my dollars.

There is a current marketing campaign for a bank that asks the question, “So what’s in your wallet?”

The idea is that no other bank provides you with what they do. They want your money and promise to give you more stuff in exchange. It has been a popular ad campaign, I assume, due to its longevity.

If your thoughts were money what would be in your wallet today?

Are you giving your thoughts away only to receive more stuff you don’t need? Or are you guarding your thoughts and giving them first to God? Are you willing to turn off the noise curiosity creates in order to obtain the peace and quiet God promises to those who trust in Him?

Take some time with your spouse to ask God what things are in your heart because of an overly exercised curiosity. Ask Him if He would have you dwell on these things or guard against them. And most importantly, be ready to hear and act on what He says.