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I've been doing a lot of thinking . . . about thinking.
My thinking pours out my doing.
The funny thing is, not all my thoughts are right out in the open and intentional. Some of them play in the background like some kind of freakish and unwelcome elevator music--you know, the kind where you spend the rest of the day trying to get some dopey song like "Feelings" out of your head (my apologies if there is anyone out there who still likes that song). I can't quite figure out why it is that the thoughts I purposely think, the beliefs I actively WANT to come to fruition in my life too often fall flat, and this junk under the radar effortlessly becomes my reality. Paul knew my frustration,when he lamented,
"18b For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19a For what I do is not the good I want to do;"
It always seems like the unintentional thoughts have more power over what I do than the intentional ones.
How much control do I have?
Where does my part begin and end?
Am I as powerless as I feel against the chains that bind me to my weak and broken thoughts?
I certainly don't claim to have all the answers--but despite my human dullness, I know a few important things:
I have control enough to choose to call on the Name of the Lord.
"I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD."
My part begins eye to eye with my weakness and ends knees-bent before My Father's strength.
"The LORD upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down."
I am designed and destined and empowered to be more than a conqueror over the clingy flesh that drags me down.
" . . . in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
God's Word is true. Knowledge of God's Word lights my way.
BUT . . .
Knowledge alone is not enough.
Thinking about what I know is not enough.
When I am soft and yielded to Him, my Holy Spirit Teacher comes and fills me full of God's truth, weaving it into me, completing my threadbare personality according to His design. He won't be finished until He ushers me in to meet Jesus face to face, but until then, He is working on me, gently untangling the mess of my fragmented and malformed ideas one at a time, releasing me from old chains.
Still thinking about thinking . . .
. . . and praying for His thoughts to free my own.
Do you ever wonder what you're thinking that affects your doing?
How do you conquer thoughts that fly under your radar?
I like this, "Am I as powerless as I feel against the chains that bind me to my weak and broken thoughts?" We need Jesus to redirect our human driven motives into God honoring ones. I like your post!
ReplyDeleteWe really do need His redirection all the time, don't we Kelli?! Thank you so much for taking time to comment!
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