A phone call would wake us up last Friday to let us know things had changed in a drastic way. A young man who I know very well was found dead in his back yard from yet to be determined causes.
He came from a good family and was a very sweet kid. I know him because he was my son Ben’s best friend and he was big part of our church youth group. Unfortunately, we will leave the funeral and drive directly to
From the phone call last Friday to the road trip this week I feel a big responsibility to have a right mind and both hands on my mental steering wheel. I just won’t let my self go to certain places of thought the same way I won’t go to certain parts of town. Knowing at I can get into bad trouble if I go to those places.
When your heart is changing lanes and moving all over the road it’s important to get things strait between your ears. It’s up to us to stay in good mental places and refuse to think bad things during challenging times.
I can’t control my feelings anymore than you can but I can manage my thoughts and my thoughts control my feelings. There is hope in understanding this biblical principal. There is also a sobering responsibility.
Serving God in our thought life is where the rubber meets the road for me. According to Joshua one verse eight you either celebrate success or suffer defeat based on your thought life. Your actions, feelings and identity are connected to your thought life. Getting God from your heart to your head can mean the difference between winning or loosing in this lifetime. Sometimes you have to be determined to have a right mind.
INTENTIONAL THINKING
The Bible says we should stand when you have done all you know how to do. When the only thing we know to do is the wrong thing, it is best to not do anything. We need to just stand sometimes. Just like that, if I don’t really know what to think about something, I have to intentionally not go into wrong thinking. I’m responsible for it.
Intentional and focused thinking is a skill which must be practiced. You have to understand the value of right thinking and the danger of wrong thinking to set your heart on what is right. In Philippians 4, Paul lists eight things worth thinking about and says we should intentionally “think on these things”. Focused thinking brings clarity to a defined target and is connected with a determination of our heart.
So I choose to celebrate the life of young Jonathan Walden and the accomplishments of Benjamin Brewer going off to college. I look at a picture of the two of them together at their last football game a few months back. I see two young men worth rejoicing over and it makes me want to keep my head in the game. As hard as the battle is, it is a privilege and an honor and a blessing to others to have a right mind. Thanks Lord, for the opportunity. I’ll take it.
Benjamin & Jonathan
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