Faulty thinking is costly. It can cost you your job, your family, your money, your future and even your life. Take the example of Joseph Stack who last week crashed his small plane into an I.R.S. office building in Austin, Texas. It seems that he felt that hopeless in dealing with tax laws that restricted his ability to market his skills and setup his own business. In his online explanation of his actions he expressed his frustration with the government and his many attempts to get laws changed. Having failed in these attempts Joseph took out his frustrations on the personnel and property of the I.R.S. The result was the end of his own life and the life of another person, injuries to others and thousands of dollars of property damage. His thinking was faulty on many levels:
- It was erroneous to think that one's problems with the tax code were not solvable. Tax experts have analyzed Joseph's situation and concluded that he lacked good accounting advice.
- It was erroneous to think that setbacks whether financial, physical or emotional are reason enough to end one's life; our lives still have value and purpose; it is always too soon to quit!
- It was erroneous to think that hurting others would diminished his own pain. Such actions only create more pain. Did Joseph stop to consider how he would feel if a stranger killed a member of his family in a vendetta against a business or an organization?
- It was erroneous to think that his actions would not result in suffering and negative consequences for his family.
- It was erroneous to think that he was entitled to be judge, jury and executioner in condeming the system that he was up against. He did not consider that he might be wrong in his reasoning.
Thus, by his actions, Joseph demonstrated his own pride by:
- his taking matters into his own hands.
- his lack of consulting with those who have dealt with the same problems.
- his disregard for the lives and safety of others.
- his lack of awareness that when faced with overwhelming stress he should seek out those who can provide him with encourgement and emotional support so that he might not give in to defeat and self-destruction.
Such are the results of faulty thinking.
So what is faulty thinking and how can we avoid it? Faulty thinking is an incorrect or limited view of our selves, our situation or a solution to a problem. It is the kind of thinking that usually results in making decisions that are not in the best interest of ourselves or of those around us. It is not just a mental problem; it is a spiritual problem too. Our thinking is affected by the environment in which we live; by our education, our relationships, the media and the system of the world in which we live. And there is a spirit that is a part of the world's system. The Apostle Paul identifies it as the spirit of the world:
You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:1-3
The spirit of the world is according to Satan's perspective and purposes. Remember that Satan is a deciever and it is his intention to toward God's people is to steal, kill and destroy. This is not the spirit that we want to live by. But there is another Spirit that we born again believers have access to:
But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. 1Corinthians 2:12
We do not have to live according to the spirit of the world which tries to appeal to our flesh, our sinful nature. Rather through meditating on God's word we have access to God's higher thoughts and his higher ways that will renewed our minds, free us from the world's pattern of thinking and lead us to discover the things that God freely gives us. The unfolding of God's word gives us light that can illuminate any dark situation that we may find ourselves in. And by learning to keep ourselves yielded to God's Spirit as we interact with others and with the world we can experience life and peace rather than defeat as Paul explains in Romans 8:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:5, 6
Thus, we do not have to be victims of faulty thinking for we are not called to be defeated. God has better things in store for us; He called us to be conquerors. And conquerors we shall be as we practice casting our care on the Lord Jesus, obeying God's word and following the promptings of his Spirit.
Forbearance is a quality that is rarely taught in our society today. To forbear means to tolerate with what is less than what one is due; to be longsuffering or patience. The Apostle Paul wrote: "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness [or forbearing spirit] be known to all men. The Lord is at hand," Philippians 4:4, 5. The world ought to see a Christian's willingness to forbear through God's grace the difficulties that bring out the worst in others. But rather today we are taught to demand our rights and to protest at any disrespect even if unintentional. Yet we would do better if we would discipline ourselves to forbear. Forbearance or patience is included in the list of fruit of the Spirit. Thus, we as believers have the capacity to forbear in difficult and uncomfortable situation if we will draw on God, who is our source. After all God is always demonstrating his forbearance with us as Paul states in Romans 2:4 "...do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" Since God forbears with us we can forbear with others because we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:5).
But, you my say, "I don't feel like tolerating this situation I'm in!" Well, it is not about going with our feelings but rather going by faith and going by what the word says about us. The Lord is not unconcerned about our circumstances, but he has a way out if we are willing to follow him. What steps then can we follow to develop forbearance in our lives?
1. First we need to learn to die to self, to our own wishes, desires and sometimes even to our own needs. It not considering that's oneself is worthless or without value. We are God's creation and we are created in his image, thus we are already persons of great worth and value no matter what our status is in life. So recognizing the value and love that God has for us we commit our needs, wants and desires to him; letting him focus on those things while we focus on the tasks the Lord has assigned us. That is what Paul meant when he urged us to be living sacrifices in Romans 12:1. When the urge comes to fight or seek after self-interest we can remind ourselves that self is no longer important, what is important is accomplishing the will of God and his righteousness. And God will take care of all the other issues.
2. Since we are to live by faith (the just shall live by faith Romans 1:17) then by faith we receive the strength and wisdom to forbear.
3. Just like we saw above when Paul said in Philippians 4:4 that the Lord is near, we recognize the presence of the Lord Jesus living in us and that we can do all things through Christ, God's anointed One who is strengthening us (Philippians 4:13)! The writer of Hebrews tells us to "consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls," Hebrews 12:3. We can stop looking at our own strength or weakness and start looking at the Lord's strength that is available to us. Like Paul in Galatians 2:20 we can say, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me."
Thus, with our mind off of our own fears, anxieties and lack we can develop through practice the ability to forbear so that we can accomplish God's higher purposes; God's purposes that bring glory to his name and that advances the cause of Christ. You see forbearance is not an end in itself. It is a means to a destination as King David recorded in Psalms 66:12, "You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance." Just like an ice breaker forbears as it travels through seas of ice covered waters and then reaches the ocean open and free of obstacles so too is forbearance for us. Their is a place of greater opportunity waiting on the other side of our current difficulty. Let us not miss it!
The new year has arrived and with it comes new opportunities and new possibilities. Will we be prepared for them? Will we be able to grow in our walk with the Lord? Will we demonstrate the qualities of a disciple in our lives better this year than in all the previous years? And will we want to experience life with God as our source like never before? We can if we commit to be submitted to the Lord. You see there are lots of people who call themselves Christians. They go to church and partake in Christian activities yet they do not manifest transformed lives; they claim that Jesus is their Lord yet not do not obey his will. A transformed life is one that is focused on and submitted to the Lord Jesus, yielded and guided by the Holy Spirit and obedient to God's word. Those who live transformed lives do not live like the rest of the world. They do things that others would not consider doing like helping the weak and the downcast. They do not talk like the world; they do not go around cursing those they disagree with rather they bless them. They give when others say to hold on to what little you have. They love and minister those who are less attractive, less popular who are not able to pay back.
Yet many of us Christians have yet to grasp the need to abandon our pride and take seriously what God's word tells us to do. To do things such as love one another, do not judge or speak against one another, go the second mile, to be a blessing rather than always seeking a blessing, to share the message of salvation through Christ and to bring glory and honor to Jesus. Yes, there are some in the body of Christ who often insist on having their own way and thus give Christ a bad name or reputation. Yet, if we are submitted to Christ we will behave differently.
Living a submitted life is easy in concept but can be difficult in practice. To be submitted to Christ we abandon what we want to do, resist the impulses of our sinful nature, the flesh, and say no to the temptations and the pressures of the world while staying focused on the Lord and what he says to do. Our desire is to please him. How do we know what the Lord wants us to do? We obey what he has already told us to do in his word. We spend time in his word so we can see what manner of person that we are; not what manner of person our neighbor is or a teacher or pastor is, but what kind of person we are are. And we take time each day to pray and to fellowship with the Lord Jesus listening for his instructions. His voice is not difficult to hear if we are accustomed to spending time in his presence. Remember He said in John 10, "My sheep hear my voice." And do not worry about what the Lord might ask you to do. He loves us and he will take care of us. He guarantees that he will always be with us.
Are you one of his submitted sheep? If not, then commit to submit today!
Are you facing a tough problem today? Here is some good news: Christ's grace is sufficient for us. Graces is God's favor, his unmerited favor. The Apostle John tells us that, “From his fullness we all received grace upon grace, ” John 1:16. In other words we have received one grace after another. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus sits on the thrown of grace which we can access at anytime.
From 2 Corinthians 12:7 we see Paul once grappled with what he referred to as a thorn in the flesh which he ask for deliverance from the Lord thee times. Tradition says that this thorn in the flesh was a disease that Paul suffered from. But this explanation would be contradictory to God's nature to put disease on his children. No, the scripture says in Psalms 103 that God heals all our diseases and from the book of James, that every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of lights (James 1:17). Paul explains that this thorn was a messenger of Satan sent to discourage him.
In response to Paul's plight the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” 2 Corinthians 12:9. Thus, Paul realized that he did not need to plead with Christ to remove this thorn because the Lord had already made his grace available not just to endure the problem but to overcome and be victorious over it. Paul could now rejoice and glory in the strength that was placed on top of his weakness; in the super that was on his natural. He no longer had to suffer; he could face that messenger of Satan and tell him to 'go' because Christ grace was more than enough to deal with him.
The same is true for us. We should not let the circumstances that we are facing cause to speak words of doubt and defeat. Christ has already made his sufficient grace available to us. So we should receive that grace, rejoice and speak enthusiastically about it and expect victory to come about in our lives.
Often we want something better in our lives: a better job or a better position in our company or ministry. Or maybe our desire is to live in a better house or in a different neighborhood or to have more responsibility or greater financial resources. But opportunities for such advances seem to slip away from us. We seem to be stuck in our current circumstances. What can we do to change our them? We can look to God who is our source of advancement.
In the kingdom of God we do not have to be concerned about how high we can raise ourselves through our own efforts. Rather it is about how low are we willing to go in service to Christ. Jesus told his disciples:
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bond servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:25-27
If we want to attain or accomplish more in our lives then we have to be ready to abandon those things which we think we deserve and focus on how we can serve others. This was the example that Jesus set when he came to earth as a man. Paul explains in Philippians 2:5-9:
Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name.
Some might see Jesus' acceptance of his assignment to come to earth to redeem humanity as a demotion. But Jesus understood that the way up was down. If he came down to man's level then suffered and overcame sin and its penalty then he could raise mankind up and restore the relationship that had been broken between God and man. And as a result of going through death on the cross God, the scripture says, highly exalted Jesus.
We have to apply the same truth to our lives. Pride would have us resist humbling ourselves to doing tasks that may seem beneath us. But that is what we have to do as Peter advises: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:6, 7. The act of taking a lower position and serving others is what attracts God's attention. God is not as interested in our status, position or ego as much as he is interested in seeing us imitate his nature, to show his compassion and mercy. And it is when we demonstrate God's nature that he gets glorified. Then God's favor comes to us as a result of our obedience.
Thus, if you are dreaming about moving up in your life, remember that the way up is down. Opportunities to do what others refuse to do will be coming into your life. These are your opportunities for advancement. Accept them as God given challenges; challenges that will result in God's favor being released in your life.
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