Cleaning House

Good people leave memories that bless us, but the wicked are soon forgotten. (Proverbs 10:7)

Someone once said that history is nothing more than a bunch of collected memories. I think this might just be true. Memories are the things left behind - good or bad - that will live on in the lives of others. We don't control the memories another makes, but we can influence them with the way we live our lives. We might think all the memories we have formed over a lifetime don't amount to much but take another look at the moments that made those memories and I bet you will find they mattered!

Good people leave memories that bless others. Learn to be a blessing to others and you will be creating all kinds of good memories that will live on long after you are no longer with those individuals. We might find a mixture of good, not so good, and in between memories have formed over the course of our lifetime. The ones you probably enjoy the most are the good ones. I remember the first time I held my children in my arms. I remember their glee at their first steps. I remember their proud moment of walking the graduation line to receive their diplomas. All good memories have a way of bringing joy to one's heart.

The bad ones - what about the ones that didn't quite 'bless us'? I know we all have them. I recall the screeching tires and the jolting thud of being rear-ended. I remember to news of my dad's fatal heart attack. If we are truthful here, we all have those memories that jolted us to the core. Hopefully we don't dwell on those memories as much as we do the ones that bring us joy. If we have a hard time letting go of the bad memories, we need to ask God to help us with that task. We might not realize how much they 'squelch' the good ones just beckoning to be freed. 

God's plan is for us to allow our minds (that includes our memories) to be renewed. That means he doesn't want us keeping all those tragic, not so thrilling, and sometimes quite painful ones around. Why? They will have a negative influence on us over and over again until we let him take away their sting and eventually take away their place in our memory bank. I am not saying we need to be 'Polly-anna' in our thinking, but we need to let God clean house within our mind's memory bank. When he does, there will be lots more room for the better memories! Just sayin!

Inward or Upward?

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. (Robert Louis Stevenson)

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! (Colossians 2:2-4)

Woven into a tapestry of love - not through human effort, but because God binds us together as 'interwoven members'. This should give us a sense of 'belonging' even when we don't feel like we 'belong' anywhere else. This should also give us a sense of being created for a purpose, not just to sit idly by as life passes us by. We are called to work together - not just the physical work some might think of, but that 'spiritual' and 'emotional' work of being united in Christ. Yes, it does require work to live in unity because we have to put aside our differences and come together on the common 'plane' of Christ's love and grace. 

Minds confident and at rest. Yesterday we explored how a mindset can actually drive us forward, or it can keep us locked into a pattern we have allowed to hold us in one position. A confident mind doesn't just 'happen'. Confidence is 'built' - on the power of one bigger than our problem; on the trustworthiness of one stronger than our problem; and on the reliability of one who remains when all else fails. We might not always be 'at rest' in our minds, but that unrest may actually bring us to a place where we encounter whatever it is that is keeping us from knowing God's perfect peace. I was once told that God only disturbs our present so he can improve our future. Rest disturbed today? Maybe God is working on something great in your future!

When our minds are focused - not on something fleeting and uncertain - but on the power and ability of Christ, we are strong. When our minds wander into the territory of our own self-effort and abilities, we can know a bit more than just 'unrest'. We can face fears, a lack of hope, and even a little bit of 'wobbliness' in our stand with Christ. Why? Self-help or self-effort are not enough to bring our minds peace and safety. We need the wisdom of Christ to know full confidence and rest. We don't find that when our focus is inward - we only find it when our focus is upward. Just sayin!

Mindset = Expectation

All our words and acts are passing in review before God. (Ellen G. White)

Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. (James 2:12-13)

Expectation is a mindset that creates a sense of anticipation, is it not? When you invest your money in a fund, you anticipate a return. When you tell your teen to be home by curfew, you expect a timely return by that curfew end. What do we expect from each other? Those expectations create a mindset within that actually builds anticipation of some 'return'. We expect someone to be kind - revealed through kind words and deeds. This mindset is based on a form of hope. We could expect someone to act harshly, based on a set of expectations we have created about that person created from some character traits they exhibit. We have created a mindset based upon what we have observed. Because our 'minds' can be 'set' by a myriad of different things, expectations varying based on emotion and observations, we need someone to help us form the best 'mindset' possible. When we allow God to 'set' our minds, we are also allowing him to set our expectations. 

The RULE that has set us free is the one that should guide our 'mindset'. That rule? God's love seeks, finds, heals, and brings wholeness because of the finished work of Christ. Didn't Christ tell us to 'treat others as we expected to be treated'? Didn't he also live by that truth - leaving us with an example of how the 'rule' worked in everyday circumstances? What is 'hoped for' and what is 'observed' - both play a very important part in our journey with others. The truth is that we need to become the person that lives with God's love flowing through our veins. When you go to the Word of God, do you 'expect' it to change you? Or are you there to just 'check that one off the list' for the day? When you pray, do you expect God to hear and answer? Or are your words hollow and without true hope? 

We must understand the power of 'expectation' and how that creates a sense of anticipation within. We must also understand the power of the right mindset. When Christ is first in our lives, it is revealed in our choices and those choices are a direct result of having our expectations set by Christ. We 'expect' to live in safety - so God creates boundaries we are to live within. We 'expect' to be healed in areas where sin has left us in a world of hurt - so God brings us into times of closeness with him that allows him to minister to those wounds. All of our 'expectations' are tied to some form of 'anticipation', even in our relationship with God. Struggling? Disappointed by people? Disappointed by yourself? Ask God to purify your expectations - to give you a fresh mindset. Lean into him, anticipating his movement within. We might just have different expectations of those around us and ourselves as a result. Just sayin!

Boundaries - More Than Fences

^22-24Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. ²⁵But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

(James 1:22-25)

The Word of God presents a wide variety of "boundaries" that we are to put into action in our lives.  Those boundaries actually serve to give us a sense of safety - we stay within them and we are safe - we step outside of them and no telling what will happen.  Yesterday, we began to look at the book we write by the speech we employ.  We looked at how those "words" actually begin in our thought life - therefore, if our thoughts are not really all that "right" or "good" in the first place, the words that are displayed will reflect the thoughts we have entertained.

The first way we get control of our spoken words is to begin to take in God's Word.  It is by the intake of his Word that we are able to begin to get control over the outflow of words from our minds.  When we begin to consider our spoken words in light of what the scripture says, we may find that we have engaged in wrong thought patterns and therefore, the actions behind those thoughts are being displayed.  An example of this is when I begin to formulate thoughts that someone is just being selfish in their demands of my time.  When I entertain this thought over and over again, I begin to resent every action I take to fulfill that person's desires.  My speech may be a good warning sign of what is actually going on in my mind - those subtle jabs and snippy answers tell me a lot about what I am really thinking!

Thought has power - it is that which is the "igniting" source for what it is that we say and do.  Thoughts can be creative, or entirely destructive.  They can be edifying, or spoken in such a way that they almost carry a damning effect to them.  They can be spoken in such a way that they are instructive, or they can be so frivolous that people wonder why you are even speaking the at all!  They also can be challenging, moving us ahead in relationship, or complacent, keeping us in a rut.  

Lest you think that there is no hope for "unbridled" thoughts - those that are really given no real boundaries to stay within - I want to point you toward a couple of truths I have learned.  First, we are all given "filters" by which we can "test" each thought before it ever has a chance to become an action or a spoken word.  Those filters come to us through the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the intake of the Word of God, and the development of our conscience.  It only takes ONE tiny seed thought to change the entire course of our actions!  The exact change you so desperately desire in your heart begins with that one tiny seed thought placed there by the intake of the Word, the urging of the Holy Spirit, or the niggling of our conscience.

Did you know that if you rehearse even the smallest "good" thought, it will eventually become the greatest influence over the rest of your thoughts?  It is true.  Begin to entertain just one good thought about something you are struggling with today in a relationship you are engaged in and then keep rehearsing that thought.  Then, look specifically for insight from the Word of God as it relates to that "good thought" and allow it to fertilize that thought.  Eventually, it will grow and begin to become pervasive in your mind.  That one "seed thought" begins to "over-grow" the other less edifying thoughts you might have been entertaining.

There is safety in setting boundaries in our thought life.  When we begin to exercise the authority over what it is that we allow into our minds, we begin to form the right mindsets.  Boundaries have a two-fold purpose:

1)  They keep us in the right mindset!

2)  They keep the wrong thoughts out!

When we begin to set the right boundaries, we begin to reap the benefits of a more controlled mindset and a more fruitful display of God's grace in our lives.