Good Intentions vs Intentional
As these days wear on and we endure highs and lows, it is only human that we are weary. I asked myself yesterday what I was missing most. I’ve been blessed to be able to see my local grandchildren. This week I know what I’m missing, I was to be in Hawaii today. That aside, a look in the mirror told me I should be missing my hairdresser. I can chide myself for these, and feel guilty for being so carnal. If I’m honest, I hang on to these because they keep me from thinking about what really scares me about all of this.
I wonder, if we will ever get back to any semblance of normal. My cruising sisters talk about when we will take that cruise, my camp staff is planning for 2021 and my women’s group talks about Fall meetings. I am easily swept into doubt that any of these things will ever happen. Worse, I’m afraid they won’t. It’s even more scary because I’m reading about the Israelites, 40 years captivity in Egypt, 40 years wandering around the wilderness, 20 years of blessed life before war, again. True, all of this happened because they “did evil in the sight of the Lord” but, as a country, are we that much different? As I sink into this thinking, Paul shouts at me, from his letter to the Corinthians.
2Corinthians 10:3-5 GNT “ It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” I’ve heard sermons, read devotions, had lots of discussions about verse 3 & 4. Verse 5 gets a little less press. So I concentrated on it.
“…we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ”. The Greek calls ‘thought’ a ‘presumption’. That was so clear to me. I presume to know the word of God because, as noted before, I’ve been in this thing for my whole life. Presumptions come from my intellect, not the knowledge and wisdom of God. One translations suggests “intellectual arrogance”. Did you catch that? Watch the president’s staff and/or your governors press conferences about Covid-19 and think about ‘intellectual arrogance”.
As a teenager, my choir sang, “let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me”. As an adult, I am completely aware that the only thing I control is My response to this pandemic. I cannot make anyone else believe the Word of God, trust It, read It. I cannot make anyone else “humble themselves and pray, seek my face”. All I can do is say, Let it begin with me.
Today, I commit to filter every news cast, social media post and conversation through the words of Christ. Any thought that is not in obedience to the Word of God, I will take captive and destroy. I refuse to dwell on the “ what ifs” of this situation. His grace is sufficient for what is really happening, not what I can dream up.
Thinkin’ today about my thought life.
