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!

Are you a little 'unstable'?

"The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it." (William James) It was Mr. James who also reminded us that one can alter our life by altering our attitude. Attitude can range from pretty positive to absolutely negative and everything in between. We can be consistent until our attitude gets a little tweaked over something and then we just let things go awry. We can commit when we are soaring high, but as soon as things get tough, our attitude toward our commitments can turn pretty negative. Amazingly, attitude can determine what we spend our time doing - what we invest ourselves in the most. If we are use our life well, we are to spend it on something that will yield good results and our attitude can go a long, long way in helping us to realize that goal.

Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. (Proverbs 27:1)

Maybe we have been going through life thinking we will always have a tomorrow, then when things hit us that we didn't expect, it throws our plans all out of whack. We get a negative attitude because OUR plans were interrupted - interference is most commonly viewed as 'negative' and sometimes even crippling. If we rely upon our feelings to determine our attitude for each day, we will be sorely defeated in a very short amount of time. As we have discussed many times, feelings are a bit too 'fickle' to rely upon. Our attitude is likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; it becomes casually changeable - where our attitude goes, so go we!

How is it we can maintain the right attitude, so we aren't so easily swayed by the instability of our emotions? I think the easiest answer to this is to be consistently in God's Word and to allow his Holy Spirit to guide us into the understanding of that Word. When we allow the Word of God to begin to guide our lives rather than the emotion of the moment, we might just realize a more 'stable' attitude. Why do we struggle with taking God's Word into our lives? It is likely that we haven't really asked God to open it up to us - to reveal himself to us through his Word. As I walk each morning, I ask God to reveal his plan for my day - I have one, but I want to be sure I am within his as I pursue the passing hours. As I sit to study each morning, I ask for guidance to the passage that will speak into my life - I can read volumes from scripture and still feel as though I received nothing from it. 

It isn't the volumes we consume as much as the frame of mind we assume. When we humble ourselves to sit at his feet, listen to his voice, and hear his Word spoken to us, we begin to see our attitude is affected. Maybe not totally at first, but the more we settle into this place of meeting with him in consistency, the more we begin to see the peace of God settle our unstable emotions. Our feelings become less and less likely to guide our steps, and our attitude is less 'labile'. As the Holy Spirit begins to place little checks and balances in our lives, we must heed them. As we do, we find our plans align more and more closely with God's. That in and of itself is enough to bring the greatest attitude adjustment we could ever want. Just sayin!

Alert Discipline

 ^5-9So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

(2 Peter 1:5-9)

Peter employs the words "alert discipline" as the third characteristic of a disciple of Christ.  To our strong moral foundation (created by allowing the Lord to remodel our basis for how we interpret moral or good choices) and our developing spiritual discernment, we are to add alert discipline.  Usually, we think of discipline in one of two ways: 1) the character traits of being very organized, on top of things, and ordered in our daily work; or 2) the punishment we get when we don't make the right choices.

In this case, the term "alert discipline" is really a kind of self-control.  It is the ability to exercise some type of restraint over our actions and our feelings.  It carries the idea of being "level headed" in our daily walk.  Peter knows that a disciple of Christ needs to be balanced in their emotions - that balance influences the actions that one takes.  

Alert discipline is really a state of "stability" in our mind, emotions, and will.  I have often asked friends if they have any prayer requests - things I can be keeping them in mind for as I remember them that week in prayer.  There are many types of responses I receive, but the one that is probably closest to what Peter is speaking of here is the response, "Pray for my sanity!"

The idea of alert discipline is really an attitude or mindset toward remaining in a condition of stability or "sanity" in our daily walk.  It is the ability to resist the tendency to "over-focus" on things that are really "minor" in the scheme of things and the ability to "re-focus" on the things that we need to be "majoring" in.  It is the consistent control of our emotional investment in the things we are going through - attentively investing the right amount of emotional energy into those things (neither too much, nor too little).  It is also the determined strength to resist that which will provide a negative affect in our lives and to invest in that which will allow us to grow.

I don't take the request for "sanity" lightly - it is a reflection of a heart that is being "pulled" in a whole bunch of directions.  It is the plea for balance.  That is exactly what Peter said we needed to add into our lives - total and complete balance.  The next time you feel your world beginning to spin out of control, remember to ask God to add "alert discipline" into your daily walk, redirecting your emotions, focusing your mind and assisting in your battle of the will.

Stability (the ability to continue on without much change) is really a state that we are constantly moving toward.  As we come to Christ, as babes in Christ, we possess very little stability in the area of our emotions, will or mindset.  We find that we are up one day, down the next, obedience coming easily this time, but with much effort the next.  That is a natural part of growing in Christ.  We need to recognize that as our moral fibers are "re-knit" and our spiritual discernment is being "fine-tuned", God is also about the work of bringing us into a state of stability (in our mind, will and emotions).  

The character traits build one upon the other.  We cannot have stability if the foundation is "off".  We cannot enjoy consistency in our choices if we are not accurately "interpreting" life's events.  Each character trait described for us in this passage is only one "key" that opens us up to really being strong in Christ.  Each "key" is necessary on our "spiritual key-ring".  We cannot eliminate even one of them.  So, your key today is alert discipline.  Tomorrow's key will be passionate patience.  I know...you already think that is an oxymoron - how can you be passionate and patient at the same time?  Guess you'll just have to tune in tomorrow to see!