A Bucket List?

One of the traits of a person whose main spiritual gift is teaching is the strong belief that thinking right is vital to living right. That is, the mind is the primary battleground. For me, this means many of my favorite Scripture passages are about thoughts and my thought life.

For example, Jesus stressed the importance of what goes on inside for it will eventually come out in words and actions (see Matthew 15). Also, Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Another one is a prayer. I am concerned with my own thoughts and want to have a godly mind, so pray this now and then. However, I tell people that if you pray these verses and mean what you say, you must duck! God will answer it!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24)

Tozer backs me up. He says that our thoughts are “decorations inside the sanctuary where we live” and “pretty much decide the mood and weather and climate inside your heart.”

I agree that God considers my thoughts as part of me, even as the place where temptation starts. I’m not to let them be a “wilderness in which every kind of unclean beast roams and bird flies” but a place where good things dwell. Some of those good things are in these verses . . .

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4–9)

Joy. Reasonableness (or gentleness). No worries. Prayer. Thanksgiving. God’s indescribable peace. Truth. Honorable. Just or fair. Pure. Lovely. Commendable. Excellence. Praise-worthy. What God has taught me. Godliness I see in others. Doing these things. Enjoying His presence.

This is not supposed to be a bucket list for some future day, but a continual practice of the mind and replacements for all the junk that tries to collect inside my head every day.

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Lord Jesus, I’m so thankful that salvation includes being given Your mind. Without it, this would be totally impossible. Even with it, I continually need grace and alertness to battle the stuff that wants to distract and lead me into sin. Grant me all that I need to think Your thoughts today!

Integrity = doing and being are aligned!

A friend once said, “Sometimes, to think right you have to do right.” She was responding to my statement that God wants our motivation to be behind what we do and our thoughts in line with our actions. I was convinced of that because of these verses:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)

Yes, our bodies belong to God and what we do with them is to be an act of worship, yet the transformation starts with a renewed mind that can discern the will of God. It seems to me that I cannot obey the will of God unless I can figure out what it is and put my mind on it.

Tozer says that the Holy Spirit makes this happen. He gives us the ability to offer ourselves as a sacrifice set apart to serve God. Tozer also says we are in danger if we think we are delivered from sin but have only moved from one sin to another.

My first thought is about a small quilt that I just finished for another person. It was a sacrifice for me because it took time and effort and was not a design I would have picked to make for the sheer enjoyment of making it. Yet during the process of this ‘sacrificial’ action, I’ve noted pride. I’m proud of my sacrifice — moving from the selfishness I thought I’d abandoned to pride about doing it.

In a broader sense, this shift from sin to sin can happen to those who are not saved but start going to church. Tozer warns that we can think we have become Christians yet in reality, we have only changed location. He compared this to once “sinning in the far country among the swineherds but now chumming with religious persons” which might make us more respectable in appearance but not actually transformed by the power of God through His redemption.

Tozer adds that a saved person is convicted of sin, but also of sinfulness. God wants me to know that it is not just what I do that makes me need Christ; it is what I am. Doing is a surface issue; the root of it is in my being. That is, I cannot do a wrong thing, confess it, and be transformed without considering what motivated that doing. He calls me to dig deeper.

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Jesus, while this quilt-making seems a little thing, it reveals how much I can make myself the center of even a small sacrifice instead of doing it out of love for You, love for others, and to glorify Your name. I bow my head in need of forgiveness and the grace to live according to the new creation that You say I am.

Thinking God’s way changes my life

Yesterday a woman came to help me with the cleanup of powdery sawdust from our renovation project. She was upset over a family issue and although she worked steadily, her face reflected her anxiety. Sometimes tears flowed as she told me the things on her heart.

To someone who is not a Christian, the encouragement from my Bible reading in the past few days about “do not be anxious about anything” and taking concerns to the Lord with thanksgiving sound just like that silly song, Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Without knowing the Lord, it is impossible for her to experience His supernatural peace, so for now I just listened.

As the day went by, I felt the weight of her burdens. She thanked me for listening and I told her that I would pray for her, and suggested that she try and focus on the few good things that were happening in her situation.

When she left, I had to take my own advice. I felt heavy about her situation too. I prayed about it, asking Jesus to help her and thanking Him for giving me this burden so I could pray for her. She doesn’t seem to have many friends and her family is not supportive. However, I knew that if I give much thought to the negatives in her life, I would be rehashing them just as she was.

I’ve done this before. Worry is one thing. The cure is taking it to God with thanksgiving and He gives peace, but I know that at that point I can bring back the worry if my mind dwells on the wrong things. No doubt that is why this passage on worry and prayer ends with these words:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8)

God knows that what happens in the mind winds its way into life. If I think lies or other ignoble things, they will affect my attitudes, the way I talk, and the things that I do. If my mind is in the gutter, or occupied with gossip, or grumbling about the flaws and failures of others, those thoughts will turn into words and actions.

The writer of my devotional gives some definitions for the words in this verse. He says that true things are what is found in God’s Word. I agree. Thinking biblically retains my peace of heart and God’s Word always builds my faith.

Noble thoughts refer to that which is worthy of awe and adoration—the sacred as opposed to the profane. Getting my mind above the bad things in life is good, but getting it above the mundane makes a huge difference in joy levels too. God is taking care of the things I prayed about. I do not need to oversee what He is doing by picking at it in my head.

Just things means my thoughts should be consistent with God’s absolute holiness. He does what is right. That kind of thinking is conducive to trust.

The meaning of pure thoughts is obvious. Keep my mind on that which is morally clean and undefiled. Some of the things that were shared yesterday as part of this woman’s burden included immoral behavior of others. Every time I think of what she said, I am weighed down with pain. God asks me to trust Him with what needs to be done. It isn’t that I run from the burden, but that I give it to Him, totally.

He wants me to think about lovely things too, things that are pleasing or acceptable, things that have a good report or are highly regarded and well thought of. At times, the only thought that fall into that category is thinking of God Himself. He is perfect while so much of what goes on in this world is far below that.

Lastly, He advises me to put my mind on that which has virtue, those praiseworthy things. What has a good reputation? My devotional suggests whatever the world considers good, such as kindness, courtesy, and respect for others.

During the day, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me to listen, not preach, and give this hurting lady as much kindness and respect that I could. I realize today the importance of thinking that way because it affected my actions toward her. It also affects me today. I can still feel compassion and concern for her, yet not let the weight of what she told me be so burdensome that I am not able to think right or hold up her needs to the Lord in my prayers.