"You Know, I was thinking…”

“You know, I was thinking…” No Doubt, we have all said that to someone at one time or another, haven’t we? I have often thought myself about how God created us and has blessed us with the capability of independent thinking. He also has given to us a Free Moral Agency in the area of our personal choices. It’s a fact that our ability to reason as humans truly separates us from the animal world. We operate on a higher level, a higher plain than simply that of instinct. We are able to analyze and discern truth and reality. Never take it for granted my friends because this is a God-given gift for which we are most blessed.

Scientists tell us that our mind will think thousands of thoughts each and every day. Some research has noted that we can think as many as 3.5 million thoughts a year. Because these thoughts will cover all facets of our life, we quickly learn that this gives us the ability to deal with everyday situations and long-term planning. It also helps us to manage crisis as it comes. No doubt, thinking right helps us to live right.

We live in such a pluralistic world. It is a world that says, ‘let me think and do as I see fit and you do the same’. One of the overwhelming difficulties with that logic is that we end up encountering problems as another person’s actions seem to run cross current with ours. The result is definitely uncomfortable at best. What it yields is nothing short of a crisis. For example, those people who somehow come to the place where they no longer think that life is valuable quickly become a threat to those of us who do value life. As a pastor, I can tell you that thinking right is always an important exercise for Christians. Still I think it is also true that wrapped within right thinking, is what I offer to you today as three basic ingredients.

Ingredient # 1: There must be objective truth that we subscribe to. For the Christian this objective truth is the Holy Word of God. You see I am convinced that the Bible deals extensively with how we are to think, even though the world has overwhelmingly disagreed with that truth. But look around you; does anyone actually think that moving away from the Bible’s clear teachings has somehow helped our world? Indeed, it has had the exact opposite effect.

Ingredient # 2: We must be careful with whom we associate. As a result of our choices relationally, we are known by our environment. The company we keep influences and shapes our thinking more than we care to admit. From Children to Teens to Young Adults to Senior Adults, we can see that in time this truth is proven out over and over again. Those we hold onto, have a hold on us.

Ingredient # 3: The things that we allow our eyes to see as we read a book, watch the TV, view a movie, or peruse a magazine, and view via the technology of the internet definitely affects us. All of this will have a significant impact on how we see ourselves and others. Prolonged exposure to negative images is making our world less safe than ever. Sin is real, and we must never forget that it is also negative. I used to say that ‘Sin is the darkroom where Satan takes us to develop our negatives’.

In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the New Testament entitled The Message, the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:8-9 “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies.”

You know, I was thinking, that’s a pretty good way to live. What do you think?

As you have a Great Tuesday and rest of the week, remember this; you are all loved.

Pastor Darryl