Reigning in your concerns for Righteousness
One of the toughest places I find myself is in the matter of the mind, the thoughts. In what I do for a living, I find myself in the unenviable position of waiting for work pretty often. I do what I must to get the next contract, the next position, but then I have to wait – as I tend to the bills, the children, my wife, the house, the cars… and so on. Your mind can get pretty tangled, pretty fast, when you don’t have it set right. And boy do you have to do a lot of “set”-ting sometimes! Let me give you a for instance…
I am sitting in my kitchen at 5 o’clock on a Saturday morning writing. I have the temptation to get anxious, to be discontented and worried as to when the next job will come. Did I do enough posting for work, have I called enough people? Am I getting too anxious, like right now? – You get the idea.
And it’s annoyingly easy for someone who has work to say, in the best intentions, “Hey, don’t sweat it, you’ll get something soon.” But when you are the one waiting, ticking off the dollars being spent, trying to let God be in control while you try not to be… well… you can get to drinking too much coffee, not playing with the kiddies enough… snapping at the people you love the most, and writing at 5am instead of sleeping.
Mind Your Control
I’ve heard the funny saying, “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter!” and there is some truth to that… but only for the Believer. God IS in control after all, really IS Sovereign (eh, buddy?). So what are you “putting your hand to” right now that you shouldn’t be, old friend? Take a deep breath… sing a favorite hymn, command your heart to Bless Yahweh, and drive on… until the next battle of the mind. And don’t be all that surprised if you have to do that all over again in an hour. Controlling your mind to follow your will that trusts in Jesus takes practice… practice… practice. It does get better with repetition, I promise! But you have to control your thinking and not let your feelings boil your brain.
See that’s where the problem lies, in your mind. You are Born Again; You are a Believer; You do have God HIMSELF looking after you (if you aren’t sure go here). So then what’s to sweat? Allot, unfortunately. But it isn’t what you may be thinking you should get disturbed over…
Is your fear really un-Belief?
The Apostle Paul was a guy I can REALLY relate to. He said things like I would, “Who can save me, wretched man that I am?” and “What a dope I am!” -and he said them enough times and in enough ways to make me realise it doesn’t matter what century you live in, men have the same struggles in any time. And the toughest battle is what to KEEP your mind on.
Phi 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, 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 any praise, think about these things.”
Now that is advice from someone who understands WHY you need to control your mind. Sitting in a 1st Century Roman cell chained by the wrist to two angry Roman soldiers (mad at even having to be there) – that could get you wondering about your obedience.
Do I deserve what I’m getting Jesus?
You have to wonder sometimes, when you are suffering. Relax, everyone does. But God says to think about Him and about His love for you. “Count your blessings”, in other words. DO that, “think about these things.” And by the very nature of doing so, in refusing to let your fears cause you to doubt Jesus’ care for you, and by thinking about God’s loving carefulness for you, you are then NOT thinking on what you should not. In other words, BE GRATEFUL.
… for God is good.
When you have a family relying on you for their next meal you must remember Jesus cares for them MORE THAN YOU DO. He has things well in hand.
I look to my little one for indications of how this simple thinking about the right things actually works in practice. My little Jack is going to be two next week. And whenever we are going down the road he blissfully looks out the window completely at peace with Dad’s driving. Yeah, yeah, I know he’s too little to know any better, but the point here for us, is that Little Jack doesn’t even think about it. As the trees whiz by, my little boy doesn’t realise just how dangerous the situation REALLY is. But before you dismiss my analogy, neither do you… Let me explain…
An Asteroid a MILE across missed us by whizzing between the orbit of the Moon and the Earth not too long ago. Did you know? Did you hear anything about it? Most likely you didn’t. You were probably one of the billions of us blissfully seated people who were just watching the stars go by, ignorant of the danger. Well, as blissfully as any parent can manage this side of death and God’s DIRECT intervention, this is how we must be, and that IS Paul’s point. You sure didn’t know how close you were to Judgment Day, did you, and not knowing made not a bit of difference to your day, right?
1The 5: 16-22 “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. Don’t quench the Spirit. Don’t despise prophesies. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
Mind Your “Self”
What we have here my brothers and sisters is a failure to communicate… with God. TALK to Dad, let Him know your EVERY care, and then GO GET SOME SLEEP…. for HE CARES FOR YOU. Let God mind the asteroids. It’s just that easy, just like a little kid doesn’t “mind” your driving.
What more does God require of man but to do justly and to love mercy?
I’m not saying you don’t care of things. I’ll never forget the first time God spoke to my heart. He said, “Do what is right.” And when I asked “So, what’s right?” I knew before I mouthed the words He was shaking His head at my silliness at even thinking that, nevermind considering saying it!
EVERYONE KNOWS
Each man instinctively is aware of what is right, as God has said in His Bible; He has written His Law on our hearts. Con=with, Science=knowledge. So every time you violate your conscience you were doing so with the knowledge that it was wrong, instinctively.
Everyone lies, everyone steals something at some time; There is NONE who does good, no not ONE, as God has said. So we are all without excuse; We cannot say to Him, “So, what’s right?” and be truthful. You do indeed KNOW: Everyone does.
So am I saying, as many pitiful “word faith” liars do, that everything will come together, right now? Will the clouds part and birds start to sing and rays of light come down from Heaven in angelic song… no! Probably not, sorry; This is a FALLEN world, still. But what does prayer do? Does anyone know? Anyone? 🙂
Prayer Changes YOUR Perspective
Prayer let’s you see The Truth:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the Righteousness of God, in Him.
Vodie Baucham, a great big mountain of a preacher, said it pretty well when he answered the philosophy student asking him why, if God is so powerful, does He let bad things happen to good people? Vodie replied to the student that when the question got asked properly then he would answer it.
Asking the RIGHT question
See, the problem with our minds is that they still exist in this wretched, fallen, flesh. And until we have those ‘new cars’ God says we will get on that Day, we still have to “mind” the clunkers we have. And this junk we are in likes to worry us about itself. And what Vodie was getting at is that when we ask why God ALLOWS US TO LIVE AND EAT AND BREATHE every day, when we deserve Hell Eternal, well then… we can get to thinking our stuff isn’t so bad after all. We begin to feel suddenly better, the sky looks brighter, and, what do you know?, that “God so loved the world” message is a REALLY Great Deal, after all, come what may in this here and now. Now THAT is the right perspective.
So go love God, love your family and the brotherhood, obey the rulers, and do that in that order!
…now where are those hymns?
To Jesus be the Glory, and Honor and Praise, for ever and ever, Amen!
John 14:27 (WEB) ” Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”
Patrick J Burwell
OnlyJesusSaves.com
