All Mixed Up

Several weeks ago I found one of the older discipleship courses put out by Lifeway at a used bookstore. The study is called "The Mind of Christ" by TW Hunt & Claude V. King.

As I was reading this morning, I came across the following statement: "Our minds often are so mixed with the world's way of thinking that we need to be reoriented to God's way of thinking".

That sentence struck a chord with me. Proverbs tells us that "as a man thinks in his heart so is he". We have the capacity as humans to choose what we think about. What we think about, concentrate on, focus our mental attention on, allow to influence our mind becomes the grid through which we interpret our circumstances and make decisions in the midst of those circumstances. What we think about and how we think determines the person we become -- whether we are growing more like Christ or more like the world.

And, unfortunately, we are oftentimes like Hannah Montana -- we want the "best of both worlds". Our thinking becomes "all mixed up" when we yield our mental attention to being more influenced by worldly, humanistic viewpoints rather than biblical ones.

What has a greater influence on our thinking today? Is it the voice of the world or the scriptures? Are we developing the "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) through consistent exposure to, meditation on, and obedience to the scriptures (Hebrews 4:12)?

Maybe, just maybe, this time of quarantine could be the turning point for many of us -- that God could use this time in our lives to reorient and renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2) toward His kingdom rather than the world.

I pray that He will do just that -- in me, in us all.

"For your name's sake"

I was reading a devotion the other day, I think by John Piper, can't remember. The main theme was "for your name's sake" (or a variation thereof). The devotion referenced scriptures such as Psalm 23:3 that says, "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake".

Recently, I have been praying about something and asking the Lord to intervene in a situation. This morning, as I was finishing up my workout, it struck me, "Why do I want God to intervene? Do I want him to intervene to alleviate the struggle? Do I want him to intervene to bring relief? Or, am I asking God to intervene "for his name's sake" and "for His glory"?

That was an "aha" moment. While God is our Father and wants us to bring all our petitions to Him and we all want relief when going through times of difficulty, I wonder about my own deeply held motivations in asking God to intervene sometimes. Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning (my devotion this morning) and in my weakness, his strength is made perfect.

Father, let the motivations of my heart's desires truly be "for your name's sake".

Becoming What we Worship

I have been reading Mark Dever's book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church in preparation for our church's Wednesday Bible study this week. In the chapter on conversion, he quotes AW Tozer: "Human nature, as we know it, is in a formative state. It is being changed into the image of the thing it loves."

That statement has struck a chord with me today. Dever makes the comment after this quote saying, "Our lives are like those old Polaroid snapshots. They are slowly but surely developing into a picture of the god we worship" (p. 123).

I thought about this in terms of "who" we are becoming as we develop. "Whoever" we are becoming reveals that which we love -- however & in what direction our character is developing reveals the thing we love and the thing we are chasing after. If we are chasing happiness in the things of the world, we will become more like the world, loving the things of the world, thinking like the world thinks. If we are pursuing Christ & our happiness in Him, then our character will develop accordingly--the fruit that is borne in our life will reflect that pursuit in the fruit of the Spirit, conformity to the character of Christ and obedience to the will of God.

While those who are without Christ are always chasing after happiness in the world because it is their default position, it is sad to see a professing Christian distracted by the world and begin to chase happiness in the world. When that happens, it reveals one of two things: either the person has not been converted truly (cf. Matthew 13, parable of the sower) or the person is converted truly, but has lost their way as a believer like James 5:19-20.

What, rather who, are you chasing today?

Repentance

Remorse is not repentance. Being sorry is not repentance. Repentance is not feeling "crummy" about yourself. Repentance is not feeling "crummy" about what you did. God may use all those to bring one to repentance, but they are not repentance.

"As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Cor. 7:9-10)

Repentance requires re-direction of mind, heart, desires, and behavior. Repentance requires change--not perfectly, but truly. Repentance requires brokenness before God (Psalm 51). Repentance requires humility without defensiveness. Repentance requires taking responsibility without excuse or condition. Repentance requires absorbing the hurt your actions or attitude caused others.

Pray for repentance--for ourselves, those without Christ, and those believers who are living out of step with God's will in temporary rebellion.

Evangelism and Discipleship

Sometimes I wonder why we in the church see so many "twin truths" or concepts in scripture as an either/or rather than a both/and. We seem to like to make dichotomies about things. When we do, we almost invariably divide ourselves into two camps as if we are on opposite sides and almost demonize one another for no reason.

One such area of the church is the evangelism/discipleship discussion. It seems that the church would be better served and our unity be better held together about the mission of the church if we saw these as two sides of the same coin or like a yin-yang symbol.

Sure, they may be distinct in their individual definitions, but that doesn't mean we have to turn this into an either/or discussion and debate. There really is a flow between these two, isn't there?

That's probably why I appreciate the designation of "disciple-making" to describe the whole shooting match, so to speak. I was listening to an older video by David Platt the other day, and he reminded me about the arch in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus begins in Matthew 4 with the call, "follow me and I will make you fishers of men". Then, Jesus closes his earthly ministry in Matthew 28 with the command, "go and make disciples of all nations". Recognizing this arch in the gospel of Matthew, I believe, helps us keep the evangelism/discipleship purpose of the church as a both/and rather than an either/or concept.

Disciple-making includes relationship building with the unsaved (which seems to be so very important today) so we can love people & share the gospel (evangelize) with them. Then, as the Lord saves them, we are able to equip, train, "disciple" them so they can in turn, do the same thing -- reproduce. That's why The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman is a great tool to help one synthesize the pattern of disciple-making (evangelism/discipleship) that Jesus set for us.

Just a few thoughts rolling around...