Todays chapter reminds me of an A.W. Tozer quote, roughly… “What we think about, when we are free to think about what we want, is either what we are or what we will become.”
This chapter labels that as our first freedom, the power to select what our mind will dwell upon. We are the sun total of our choices, but what if our thoughts we observed as part of that process?
Our thought life becomes a lens through which we see the rest of our world. The way this works for me, related to spiritual gifts, is it’s pretty clear that I have the gift of discernment. In the Old Testament it’s like a prophetic gift. The ability to see the ideal verses reality, to see down the road and recognize where our current trajectory takes us and where God would rather take us. Like the prophets of old, most people aren’t interested in those observations, just give me some ole’ time easy listening.
But for me, I see a redeemed and an unredeemed version of that gift that is guided by my thoughts. I think of the story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, bleached by the sun. There is a story of what we see. My unredeemed, negative, fear-full heart can look at almost any negative circumstance in my life and see all the negative valley of bones long dead.
But, when I’m operating in a restored, faith-based mind that imagines what God can do, it’s not a problem to see a valley of dry bones because I know the One who can completely alter the story in a miraculous fashion.
I love the question God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” It feels like a loaded question if ever there was one. My obvious negative answer “No.” My obvious faith based answer “Yes.” Ezekiel’s answer “O Lord God, you know.” Good honest answer right, a touch of skepticism meets the realization that God can do anything.
Our frame of mind alters our interpretation of what we see and expect. A mind immersed in Gods view is healthy, godly and good. A mind immersed in a godless me-driven world sees things in a completely different way.
I pray we exercise our first freedom well, that we would have the mind of Christ. I pray we recognize when we are operating in the unredeemed version of ourselves and continually live in an awareness of the restored, redeemed, reconciled version with the Spirit alive in our hearts!!
Truth, Grace, and Time 