The Longest Journey-Part Two

Hello Friends!  I pray that each of you has had a great week and that you have been able to experience and feel the love God so tenderly wraps around each of his beloved children.

 Reflection

Last week, I wrote about what can be a long and challenging journey: the winding and sometimes bumpy road from our heads to our hearts.  To recap, I discussed the difference between being book smart versus street smart.  Another way to describe this could be the difference between a theology of thoughts versus a theology of actions.  Much like the way a coffee pours water over coffee grinds, allowing the coffee liquid to seep through the filter and into the pot, we must allow all that we know and have learned about Jesus to seep down from our heads and be absorbed into our hearts. 

 In John 10:10, Jesus says that the thief comes to take us off our game and also to steal, kill, and destroy.  Thankfully, the verse doesn’t end there.  Jesus offers a promise that he has come so that we can have life and have it to the full!  Paul’s words in the NLT translation of Ephesians 2:10 call us God’s masterpiece!  

So, how can we live into Jesus’s promise and see ourselves as a masterpiece?  While there are many ways to accomplish this, let’s consider some of the following.

Application

 1. How does the enemy bait you or lure you back into wrong thinking?

 Spiritual warfare is real!  What can feel like a bad mood or a bad day is very likely Satan trying to take our eyes and hearts off God and trap us in the isolation of our own thoughts.  If we aren’t careful, these thoughts can overwhelm us and cause us to feed sin.  Eugene Peterson said it beautifully in The Message. 

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.” - Proverbs 3:5-12 MSG

 We must trust God, surrender to him, listen for how he speaks into our lives, and when we are under attack, run to God.  Don’t hide behind your shame of the thoughts or sin you have given in to, and know that it’s because of his unfailing love that God corrects us.

 2. Do our thoughts and actions align with who God says we are or with what the world tells us?

 We live in a difficult time. Through the narrow lens of social media, we are bombarded with what the world believes is important, and sadly, what the world projects as important rarely aligns with Scripture. 

Multiple times in the gospels, Jesus asks what good it is for someone to gain the world but lose their soul. (Mark 8:36, Matthew 16:26) The apostle Paul was certainly aware of the world's influence on the early church; throughout his epistles, he reminds Christ’s followers to resist this.

“Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.”  (Romans 12:2 CEV)

“…change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24 CEB)

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”  (Philippians 4:8-9 NLT)

 Thankfully, we have countless examples throughout Scripture of how Jesus and his followers were able to renew their minds and live out their faith daily.

 3. How are you renewing your thoughts and emotions?  How is your soul?

 This can be a challenge, especially if we are hiding behind pride, shame, and fear.  The great irony in this is that God already knows everything…he knows when we sit or rise, and he knows our thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:2).  But when we take a posture of honest surrender like David and make our hearts and minds vulnerable to God’s loving mercy, we can experience genuine healing and fellowship with God.  We must learn to share our thoughts, share our hearts and emotions with God daily.

“Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking. Don't let me follow evil ways but lead me in the way that time has proven true.”  (Psalms 139:23-24 CEV)

 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8 ESV)

We are also able to experience renewal by reading God’s Word daily.  Thanks to apps like the YouVersion Bible, we can search for keywords or topics throughout scripture.  We have thousands of topic-specific devotionals right at the tip of our finger!  Being faithful (Rom 12:12) and continuous in our prayer life (1 Thess 5:17) also strengthens our relationship with God. Prayer is our direct line of communication with God.  It’s in our prayers we can offload those “heavy things” in life and ask for God to strengthen us and guide us.  Like all things, though, we must be willing to surrender these things to God and really listen for his response. 

 4. Do you have a spiritual mentor or coach?  Who are those people who will dive into the pit with you?

 If you have ever watched the Lord of the Rings movies, you likely remember that Frodo didn’t set out on his own to return the ring to Mordor and throw it into the fires of Mount Doom.  No.  He set off on his journey with a rather unlikely band of eight brothers who were committed to supporting Frodo in any way necessary.  Jesus had his Disciples.  Think of each of Paul’s epistles and how he reassured his audience that he was journeying with them as a co-labourer in Christ.  Our journey through life should be no different for us.  If you don’t have a mentor or brothers or sisters in Christ walking alongside you through life, pray that God will bring these people into your life.  We weren’t meant to tackle this thing called life alone, and when the world seems to be falling apart around us, we all need friends like the paralytic had who are willing to rip open a roof to lower us to Jesus!

 Friends, the journey from the head to the heart can be difficult.  Jesus never promised that a life of following him would be anything other than a challenge.  Find rest and peace in knowing that God is always at your side, and like a master craftsman, He will continue working on you, shaping you, guiding you, and loving you.  In closing, I leave you with words from Isaiah 26.

“You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever; he will always protect us.”  - Isaiah 26:3-4 GNTD

Yours In Christ,

Doug