From Free Christian Clip Art www.BibleTriviaTime.com
In this age of instant information and real
time news reporting and economic and political chaos it seems to me that there
is more emotional manipulation than there is fact finding and reasoning that
leads to insight and effective, practical action.
God’s command to Israel was “to occupy" -- to make a stand. In
Matthew 5 Jesus tells us that we are to be salt and light to the world—agents
of preservation and illumination. But the Church has somewhat backed off from
preserving and illuminating and is in retreat. We are so busy making a living we forget to make
a stand. So concerned about keeping our job we keep our mouth shut and forget
Jesus said that we are to be His witnesses. “They told us we needed to stop praying in school so no one would be
offended. We didn't like it, but said, “Well, okay.” They
said we should not display the Ten Commandments and we didn't say much. And so it
went with the pledge of allegiance and the homosexual life style, etc. We
didn’t take a stand or mount a defense—at least not a very big one.
1. Flabby minds, sloppy
thinking and reasoning
2. Spiritual laziness
compromised by the world’s values
3. Believing the lies of the
enemy.
Where is this problem coming from that we need to be encouraged to renew
our minds? The problem is the enemy of our souls. One of his favorite tactics
is to lull us to sleep, i.e., to have us believe we do not need a strong,
flexible, agile mind and spirit. It’s okay, we have pastors and leaders who
can tell us of spiritual danger…we don’t need to learn to discern for
ourselves, and studying is hard work and we are busy, and so on until we have
flabby minds, sloppy thinking and reasoning and lazy spirits. We are in a war—not of our making or choosing, but we are still in it. We can either
embrace our spiritual and mental fitness program, learn to fight by knowing what we believe
and why and how to defend our faith, or, we can believe the enemy’s lies and stay flabby
and lazy. There will be one winner and one loser—I read the last chapter!
Is there a solution? I
believe we need a focus. If we are serious about our spiritual development
and desire to be spiritually fit and mature, it would make sense to learn how
God thinks and to find out what He values and adopt those values and embrace that
way of thinking.
Step 1— Focus on thinking God’s thoughts and
embracing His values. My first question to Him was, “How can I learn to
think like You? How can I learn Your values?” I heard a very loud thought in my
mind, “READ THE RED PRINT!” I
laughed out loud. Jesus said He did what He saw the Father do (thoughts and
values) and said what He heard the Father say (thoughts and values). "For I did not
speak on my own, but the Father
who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken ( John 12:49). The words I say
to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his
work (John 14:10-11). Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works
themselves (John 14:10-11).
So, if I turn
to the Gospels and read the red print I should be able to see how God thinks
and what He values! Jesus was very clear on what He believed, why He did
what He did…and He took a stand.
Step 2 — I’ve been reading the red print for the past year. Now
this New Year He added to the program. He’s been challenging me to formulate a godly thought matrix. As
far as I have been able to unravel this yarn ball, it looks like He wants me to
wrestle with building a “Godly logic structure” within which to reason as He
reasons—that’s daunting. Potential brain strain! You know the verse, “Come now, let us reason
together…” (Isaiah 1:18 KJV). I have not studied philosophy or logic but maybe
that’s a good thing; man’s rules of logic probably would not work with God anyway!
I don’t know how many blogs this will take, but I
would appreciate your feedback during this mental/spiritual workout! Could we
build this matrix together and come up with a framework within which to reason that
leads to insight and wisdom? That will lead to taking a stand and mounting a
defense? I’m going to need all the help I can get! Comments please!
Blessings, Carol Brown…making it plain!
www.fromgodsheart.com
One of the things that most changed my spiritual life (when I was young and still looking to people to tell me how to do that), I happened to be in a very innovative Bible study where the group decided (for a certain period of time) to try and DO everything they came across in the Bible that they could incorporate into their daily lives. Even if they didn't personally understand, or agree, with it.
ReplyDeleteFor example, "Don't go to bed angry" (that's a Lilly paraphrase), we would all try to do that for an entire week, even if it wasn't our personal behavior pattern) and then come back and share how we did, and what we thought about it. I was not in that Bible study long, as my husband took a job in another state. But that "habit" of deciding to do things God's way, instead of my own, has taken much of the angst out of figuring out if I should or shouldn't do something. Not to mention how it helped out in my decision-making.
Looking back on it, I have to say it was one of the most fruitful decisions I ever made in my life. Because it not only solidified my faith, but helped me to know who in the world I was, after making those first hesitant steps to follow Jesus. Which is why I can relate (and applaud!) this new adventure to "formulate a godly thought matrix," Carol, and am very excited to see what comes of it.
Count me in!
You give us helpful things to consider. May we let God form the mind of Christ in us.
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