Entertained, but not acted upon

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Aristotle reminds us, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." I might add it is equally important to be connected to the one mind that knows what is right to accept and what needs to be rejected! That mind? The mind of Christ. The connection? Found when we say "yes" to Jesus and his Spirit enters that space in our lives reserved just for him. Truthfully, that is when the "real" education begins!

Bless me with life so that I can continue to obey you. Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word. I am but a pilgrim here on earth: how I need a map—and your commands are my chart and guide. I long for your instructions more than I can tell. (Psalm 119:17-20 TLB)

The wonderful things contained in God's Word aren't there by accident - they are purposed to be there because we need to hear and incorporate them into our lives. There are lots and lots of thoughts that come our way each day, but knowing which ones not to move beyond the point of "entertaining" them is important. Why? Not everything that comes our way will take us down right paths in our thinking - and we all know thinking is the starting point for our actions.

Life given today is meant to be lived in obedience. Obedience begins at the point of doing more than "entertaining" a thought - it begins at the point of acting upon it. We need a "mind map" to recognize when our thoughts are going down the wrong path! Boy, if you were inside my head on any given day, you'd know just how complicated this whole "thought" thing gets to be! It is like a conglomeration of super-highways, all intersecting, traffic streaming from all directions, and sometimes "collisions" are just narrowly avoided!

I credit those "avoided collisions" or "avoided wrong turns" totally to the work of the Holy Spirit bringing to light scripture that helps me avoid those moments where thoughts entertained could bring harm into my life. God doesn't just give us a road map of obedience, but he gives us the constant "godly re-positioning system" of the Word made alive by the power of his Spirit within us to help us avoid those collision moments! Just sayin!

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