How Are We To Think?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday at lunch we were discussing linear and nonlinear thought. And I began to wonder how we can communicate at all given that we think in such different ways. The opening lines of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 was used as an example of the convergence of these two very different ways of thinking…”How do I love thee?” Is nonlinear and “Let me count the ways.” Is linear. I then thought of the creation story in Genesis and the numbering of the days. Out of the chaos of creation comes order. And I wonder if this is the way we are to be in prayer. How Are We To Think?
Scripture: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV)
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 (NRSV)
Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NRSV)
Message: Too often we do not embrace prayer as a creative path to truth. For me prayer, like studying scripture, has become an art of discovery where I begin to hear who I really am and also begin to see who I might become. Here I discover my authentic self that awaits the fulfillment of what God has prepared for me. What makes faith alive for me is God’s creativity in our lives. There are, of course, pitfalls in this process of creation. Things go wrong and yet I cannot deny what I experience. I hope you too have discovered, as I, that our lives can be a journey where faith and doing, love and grace converge in the experience of an ordered existence.
You see, we have been chosen by God for a new life…a custom made life that has the character of Christ’s love as its visible outward expression… and Christ’s peace as the message that rules its interactions with others. This character and mind of Christ in us enables us to stay in tune and in step with others. Here God’s love and creativity shapes our souls as we try to put order to the supernatural. We all have had experiences that have changed and shaped our lives. I expect that most of them occurred outside Sunday worship. Some of them are fun and others serious but the ones that shape us are all powerful. It is here in these experiences of work and family and for me in prayer as well, that I have discovered that there is a difference between trusting and trying….human effort and God’s grace… but that on occasion they do cross paths. Friends, there is no replacement for Jesus…there is no replacement for grace. There is no replacement for friendships that love with the mind of Christ. The faith of Abraham had no linear law to encumber him. Yet still he too had to act and so must we unconditionally. Friends, in the real life we too have been freed to experience faith without spiritual legalism…. worship without legalism…prayer without the legalism of linear thought. We are saved by grace that appears all over the place and we grow by grace that is as salt and light and by grace we extend to others a witness of our experience. We are free to be saturated in a culture of God’s language and history that permeates the world like salt and light. We have been freed to have a faith that is alive in how it ponders love and our very creation but then counts the ways of love and the days of creation. Brothers and sisters, if the church is going to be healthy, then each one of us must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to reflect the mind of Christ and we need to see His reflection in us. Here the Holy Spirit is empowering us to exercise our faith. But the most important thing the Holy Spirit is doing is bringing us the opportunity to receive salvation. The Holy Spirit here is helping us gain the mind of Christ. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ becomes wisdom. The mind of Christ is the hidden wisdom of accountability. Count on it!
Pray that we realize that as we think in our hearts so we become. Pray therefor abiding with the Holy mind of Christ. Pray that we gain the perspective of the mind of Christ by meditating on scripture. Pray we resist, reject and renounce all rival kingdoms. Pray we get first things first. Pray we think, pray and act in ways that help others to seek first His kingdom. Pray we realize that have been set free to live in freedom’s spirit. Pray that we understand our faith experience involving our mind, emotions and will in the act of doing. Pray we rejoice in the power of the Word made flesh. Pray we start right but not finish wrong. Pray we do not fall prey to legalism or to the institutionalization of Christ. Pray we do works of God but not add them out of context as an obligation on a path to sanctification. Pray we live in grace. Pray that we realize that we cannot redeem ourselves. Pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to live in grace. Pray we recognize the source of the supernatural work in our lives. Pray we see the powerful workings of God in our midst. Pray we never take credit for what God has done. Pray we come together to share in grace we have been given. Pray we realize we have been blessed to be a blessing. Pray that we are united together because of the work of Jesus and not our own work. Pray our hearts are encouraged and strengthened by every good deed and word we do and say in and through the love of God. Pray we are not just hearers of the Word but doers as well. Pray that we experience life and worship as a collective prayer that shapes our souls in God’s continuing plan for His creation.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 