Glorifying God with everything we have – Part 2 – The Mental

Our minds, just like our bodies, require exercise and rest. But one more necessary item that most minds lack is good food. People feed their minds, for sure, but it is not good to rely on the appetizers, like music and blog reading, to constitute the majority of our mental meals. So the question is, what are we to think about? What food should we cram down our mental throat? Philippians 4:8 is a great guideline. It says: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” That's a great verse to think on, isn't it. But how do we do all this? Can you just go and meditate – just like that? Since I am no expert on the matter, I will use the Navigator's hand illustration.

The first finger is hearing. First you hear the word, and this from parents or missionary's or whoever. This causes you to go and read the Bible. Then you are convinced and you jump to the third finger, and you study the Bible.

At this point whenever you read or study the Bible, you are glorifying God with your thoughts, but it is always better to make that a little more portable.¹ So hopefully you then go to the next finger and memorize the Bible. The fourth finger is very important. I know that I have talked about this topic somewhat considerably, but when thoughts wander, they must be checked. What better way to do this than to recite memorized scripture? And if you ever went to jail or you had no Bible for a prolonged period of time, what would you do for your spiritual life? If you haven't committed very much of the scripture to heart, I encourage you to do so.

Lastly, meditation. This, for no small reason, is the thumb of the hand. Deeply mulling over God's word helps keep the studying on a deeper level. And a deeper walk with our Lord is to be desired, right?

Anyway, we need to take every thought captive. Thanks for reading, and Providence permitting I will give the last part of the series, on the spiritual side of life, next Thursday.

¹This does not mean that you can not glorify God without always reciting scripture. But I won't talk about that now.

Life as a vessel

Imagine your mind as being a big jar. Whatever you think you are putting into the jar. Whatever you forget you are taking out of that jar. If one thought dominates all other thoughts, than that thought, maybe it is tomorrow, maybe something else, whatever it is, it is filling up your jar. For a lot of us this jar is going to be lined with goo and steeping in sin, but thankfully God offers us a way to clean it out. Philippians 4:8 says: “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is pure, whatever is of good repute, let your mind dwell on these things.”

Glen Durham, a pastor, said once: “Picture in your mind a pink elephant. Picture the elephant's pink trunk and it's pink wrinkly legs, and the big pink floppy ears, and even picture the pink tusks, just close your eyes and think hard about a pink elephant drinking water. Now stop thinking about the pink elephant. It's impossible, isn't it? That's because to take something out of your mind you have to start thinking about something else and fill your mind with that. Some people take pleasure in scooping massive amounts of sinful thinking into their minds, but we as Christians are called to be set apart from the world, in it but not of it, and keep our lives full of what is right. (Colo. 3:8) But to do this we first have to reach in and pull out the sin. A sixteen-ounce jar cant hold sixteen ounces of good and sixteen ounces of bad at the same time. You've got do do a hard thing and scrub out the jar. (Heb. 12:1)

There is a vacuum in your jar that only Jesus can fill. You can try to put other stuff in there but they just won't satisfy that empty space. Think about food. Humans need food to survive. At the end of the day, after working hard, you need to eat something, but not just anything. Junk food tastes good for a while, but leaves you hungry soon after. Good food on the other hand, will strengthen you in the long run and keep you healthy. The people in John chapter six saw Jesus feed five thousand of them without lack. When they followed Him to the other side of the sea He told them:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
Let us do the same, and fill our lives with that which endures to everlasting life!

But now, let's ask a few questions:

1. What do you find yourself thinking about most of the time?
2. How much scripture have you memorized?
3. Of all the books you read, how many of them are Christian?
4. Out of all the time you spend reading, how much of that time do you spend reading the bible?
5. What would you do with a thousand dollars? No really.
6. What thought worrys you the most?
7. Again, what do you think about most?