Enlarging Your Vision: The Implications and Importance of Your Thoughts (Part 1 of 2)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2

The way we live is a direction reflection on the way we think.  What makes you, you–is mainly  because of what you think. Why do we limit ourselves, settle for mediocrity, and just live to merely get by? It all begins with your thoughts! Take a look at the people who live great lives and you’ll find a common bonding theme–they habitually think great thoughts.  How do we do this? We’ll look at this, along with why mediating on the Bible is so vitally important in our lives. Do you want to flourish and find the flow of the Spirit? Then keep reading!

Our thought patterns become as habitual as brushing our teeth. Over time, we don’t even think about them; we just get used to them. Bitterness, anxiousness, discontent are so ingrained in our mind that we never even recognize that they’re there. One big barrier to thinking great thoughts is called mindlessness. It’s being absentminded–not mentally there at the present moment. Your body may be eating lunch, but your mind is ruminating over your problems, tasks,  and worries that flood your mind. Or you may be sitting in class, but your mind is on what you’ll be doing later in the day. The first key to thinking great thoughts is to monitor your mind. As the Apostle Paul wrote: ^“The mind of sinful manis death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” Romans 8:6. We need to ask ourselves this: What direction do my thoughts lead me in? Towards life or towards the other direction of despair, destruction, and death?  For a week, at random intervals throughout the day, write down what you’re thinking, what you were doing at the moment, and who you were with. By doing this, you’ll being to see which activities, people, and places bring out the best in you and which situations do not.   

Also learn to become aware of the flow of thoughts in your mind without trying too hard to change them. When we try harder to not think negative, self-deflating thoughts it leads only to more negative, self-deflating thoughts. Instead, we can learn to turn our thoughts in one direction or another. This explains why two people in the same set of circumstances come away with completely different experiences. As John Milton wrote in his poem, Paradise Lost, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” We need to turn our thoughts on heavenly things, thoughts that are attuned to the Spirit of God. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) How do we do this? By reading, memorizing, and mediating on God’s Word. When we do this, we can’t help but see our lives through the lens of God’s eyes; giving us the mindset only He can give us to carry out His plan for our lives.

So you now are probably asking: How many minutes do I have to read the Bible a day? Five, Ten, Thirty?  What is the minimum amount I can read so that God wouldn’t be mad at me? This is the wrong question to ask. God doesn’t love us anymore or any less regardless of how much we read the Bible. The question instead should be: What can I feed my mind with so that it can flourish? We need to stop trying harder, try softer instead. Let’s look at a key passage from the Psalms that gives insight on this subject: “Blessed are those…who delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on His law day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–whatever they do prospers.” (Psalm 1: 1-3)  What is meditation, you ask? Mediation is basically turning a thought over and over in your mind. When something matters and has meaning to us we can’t help but meditate on it, thus we take delight in it.

What would it look like if you took delight in the law of the Lord? It goes much deeper than being excited about a bunch of rules listed in Leviticus or getting pumped up by memorizing the genealogy records listed in Genesis or Matthew. It all starts with the vision of being loved by God. This God–the God of the universe whose all-powerful, holy, mysterious–loves…me! He loves me! When we learn this profound thought it rattles our minds to the point where we can’t stop thinking about it. But we do stop thinking about it–and it’s not because we’re spiritual failures. The psalmist in the above verse is saying that he has actually found ways to carry thoughts of God’s love, protection, guidance, and peace into his mental life. Being loved by God has such a deep part of this mental makeup that it now affects all of his other thoughts as well. We must start to look at our world through the Scriptures not just at them. You can look at a window–the glass, dust particles, streaks–or look through the window. This is same approach we need to have in regards to reading God’s Word.

“…Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) This is a well-known verse written by Paul to the church of Philippi but rarely do we stop and consider its implications. The most important word in this verse is the word, whatever. The Bible is not the only source to feed out minds.  Is this counter to what you’ve been taught? Think about the phrase “whatever is lovely.” What is lovely to you? A beautiful sunset, the glistening of snow falling to the ground, reading a book, baking a cake, listening to your favorite band, seeing someone you love…Let your mind dwell on these things for a moment and give it your undivided attention. By doing this you obey this commandment in the Bible. God’s desire is for you to habitually think things that are noble, pure, right, admirable thoughts. He has given us great freedom–whatever—to allow the Holy Spirit to rewire your mind. Find activities, places, and people who draw you to focus on these things and take delight in them, for this will produce a life overflowing with joy, peace, and contentment.

While we are free to feed our minds with every good source that God has given us, there is no source like God’s Word. It is his written revelation on who God is and His purposes for us. No book on earth comes close to matching its significance and life changing impact. Today, Scripture has never been easier to obtain– it’s one click away on your computer, in most hotel rooms, in hundreds of different translations, and yet it’s never been more difficult to absorb. If we’re honest, we’ll state that we find the Bible to be boring. This is a very serious problem and something that past generations never struggled with. Back then they had no TVs, internet, movies, etc.–and we automatically assume that it must have been very boring. But they were not bored, we’re the ones who get bored because our mental capacity to focus our attention has been weakened by our dependence on external stimuli.  A large reason why taking delight in the Bible is so hard for us is that we have so many more tempting alternatives.  Everywhere we turn there’s something calling for our attention: our cell-phones, IPods, daily chores, recreational activities…how do we learn to fed our minds with the Bible?

First, we must learn to ask questions when we read the Bible. Approach the Bible with curiosity. One of the biggest barriers to reading the Bible is that we think we already know everything. We’re already heard the key passages or verses to the point that they’ve become background noise. John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Psalm 23, Genesis 1, Matthew 28:19 have been repeated so many times in our minds that we take them for granted never giving them much thought.  Our minds are wired in the face of what’s new and novel shutting down under familiarity. So use your imagination, take time to recreate the details of the story, put yourself  in a certain character’s place. Don’t be afraid to approach a passage like you’ve never read it before. Act like you’re reading it for the first time, ask the Who, What, Where, Why, and How questions. If you use this approach, reading the Bible will never become dry and dull–but delightful, engaging, and exhilarating!

Also when we read the Bible we should come with expectancy. Sometimes when people show up for a gathering, they just show up. But when people are hopeful of meeting someone and engaging in activities; living life together–there is electricity in the air. They are fully alive. This is the same approach we need to have with God. If you really believe that you’re meeting with God when reading His Word, don’t just show up. Instead awaken your mind, approach reading His love letter with a different attitude. You can’t always make yourself excited to read the Bible, but things change when you come with expectancy of meeting God face-to-face.

Another approach to have when reading God’s Word is to do so with an active mind. When you study something,  you take its order into your mind. You internalize it and it belongs to you. It becomes a part of you. New worlds open up to you that you never knew existed come fully alive. The characters in the Bible are not just moral object lessons, abstract in nature. They are real people just like you and me with flaws that God uses for His purposes. Stop trying to get all the right answers; approach the Bible with a new found wonder, learning all aspects of the world in which it took place: its language, culture, geography, history–make the Bible come alive so that it’s not just a story about some people who lived a long time ago. Relate to the message by engaging in the message. Which leads us to the final way to approach reading the Bible:

It’s not enough just to read, study, memorize, and mediate of Scripture. If we don’t apply what we read, then everything we learn is all in vain. As James stated ” Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.” (James 1:22 NRSV). Most of the time, people would rather debate doctrine or beliefs than actually do what Jesus says. The common saying “Actions speak louder than words” holds true when it comes to God’s Word. You already know more than you know; just do it! It is so much easier to be smart than good. Our main problem is not what we don’t know anything; it’s that we don’t want to do what we already know. Practice loving someone different from our normal group of friends, give away something of value to you, serve your community, speak kind words to a stranger in need of love, forgive your spouse for hurting you–let God’s vision become your vision! When we take God’s Word to heart, we can’t help but overflow with love, kindness, compassion, peace, and forgiveness. Imagine the impact we would have if we actually applied what we believed!  

**Next week we’ll conclude this short two-week series on vision by looking at how to create a powerful vision for your future. The following week there will be no blog posted due to the 4th of July holiday. The Profile on Albert Pujols is still in the works and the target date for its completion is Wednesday. Happy Father’s Day and God Bless!**

Sources:  John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan Publishers: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010.