Thursday, July 31, 2008

Our Thinking Must Change

I know that many times I am a generalist, and this is one post that will be true to that description, but hear me out. For my concern is for the American Christian, not those of other countries or cultures.

We, in America, live in a capitalistic society. We also have such things as freedom of speech and freedom of the press. While each of these attributes sound good, they also pose a huge threat to the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom being spread. Why? Because a majority of Christians in America allow those principles to supercede the Gospel which has been entrusted to us. In general, we want the Bible to conform to those earthly principles, rather than conforming our lives and those principles to the Bible.

Think about it for a moment. The Gospel is the same whether we live in affluent neighborhoods in America, or if we live destitute on the streets of poorest nations. The Bible does not regard capitalism, socialism or any other type of man-made government. The government the prophet Isaiah speaks of is the one that will be upon His shoulders. If Jesus became poor for our sakes, should we not be doing that for the sake of others? Why then do we continue to use the Bible to justify our desire for material possessions? It is time for us to change our thinking, and as Paul said "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

Friday, July 25, 2008

How will you respond when they ask?

Recently, someone asked me why Jesus, if He was God, did not just spiritually transport Himself through the sepulcher, instead of removing the stone. I simply explained to him that human beings cannot do that, and since Jesus was a human being when He died, he would have to be resurrected as a human being. His facial appearance indicated an understanding of and an appreciation for the response. The brief encounter made me wonder, however, if I am prepared to answer the harder questions. Why does God allow suffering? Doesn’t God want me to be happy? Why didn’t God answer my prayer? Even more compelling, how do I explain my faith? How do I argue that which I have never seen? Are you prepared to answer these and other questions? Your faith is not for you alone. Freely you have received, and you are to freely give your faith to others.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

They won't think!

This post is a diversion from more recent posts, but one that I believe is important to the issue of a renewed mind. In 1921, Thomas Edison wrote a piece entitled "They Won't Think." By historical accounts, Edision himself was an atheist. However, he was married to Mina Miller, a devout Methodist. It is interesting to read his persective on the importance of thinking, and realize that while he found great value in exercising the mind, he would neither acknowledge nor give honor to the God that gave him his mind. Here is the piece in its entirety:

THEY WON'T THINK.....dated 1921 by Thomas Edison
EVERY MAN has some forte, something he can do better than he can do anything else. Many men, however, never find the job they are best suited for. And often this is because they do not think enough. Too many men drift lazily into any job, suited or unsuited for them; and when they don't get along well they blame everybody and everything but themselves.
Grouches are nearly always pinheads, small men who have never made any effort to improve their mental capacity.
The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train the mind to think.
Why do so many men never amount to anything? Because they don't think.
I am going to have a sign put up all over my plant, reading "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking."
That is true. There is hardly a day that I do not discover how painfully true it is.
What progress individuals could make, and what progress the world would make, if thinking were given proper consideration! It seems to me that not one man in a thousand appreciates what can be accomplished by training the mind to think.
It is because they do not use their thinking powers that so many people have never developed a creditable mentality. The brain that isn't used rusts. The brain that is used responds. The brain is exactly like any other part of the body: it can be strengthened by proper exercise, by proper use. Put your arm in a sling and keep it there for a considerable length of time, and, when you take it out, you find that you can't use it. In the same way, the brain that isn't used suffers atrophy.
By developing your thinking powers you expand the capacity of your brain and attain new abilities. For example, the average person's brain does not observe a thousandth part of what the eye observes. The average brain simply fails to register the things which come before the eye. It is almost incredible how poor our powers of observation--genuine observation--are.
Let me give an illustration: When we first started the incandescent lighting system we had a lamp factory at the bottom of a hill, at Menlo Park. It was a very busy time for us all. Seventy-five of us worked twenty hours every day and slept only four hours--and thrived on it.
I fed them all, and I had a man play an organ all the time we were at work. One midnight, while at lunch, a matter came up which caused me to refer to a cherry tree beside the hill leading from the main works to the lamp factory. Nobody seemed to know anything about the location of the cherry tree. This made me conduct a little investigation, and I found that although twenty-seven of these men had used this path every day for six months not one of them had ever noticed the tree.
The eye sees a great many things, but the average brain records very few of them. Indeed, nobody has the slightest conception of how little the brain 'sees' unless it has been highly trained. I remember dropping in to see a man whose duty was to watch the working of a hundred machines on a table. I asked him if everything was all right.
Yes, everything is all right, he said.
But, I had already noticed that two of the machines had stopped. I drew his attention to them, and he was mortified. He confessed that, although his sole duty was to watch and see that every machine was working, he had not noticed that these two had stopped. I could hide myself off and keep busy at thinking forever. I don't need anybody to amuse me. It is the same way with my friends John Burroughs, the naturalist, and Henry Ford, who is a natural-born mechanic. We can derive the most satisfying kind of joy from thinking and thinking and thinking.
The man who doesn't make up his mind to cultivate the habit of thinking misses the greatest pleasure in life. He not only misses the greatest pleasure, but he cannot make the most of himself. All progress, all success, springs from thinking.
Of course, even the most concentrated thinking cannot solve every new problem that the brain can conceive. It usually takes me from five to seven years to perfect a thing. Some things I have been working on for twenty-five years--and some of them are still unsolved. My average would be about seven years. The incandescent light was the hardest one of all; it took many years not only of concentrated thought but also of world-wide research. The storage battery took eight years. It took even longer to perfect the phonograph.
Which do I consider my greatest invention? Well, my reply to that would be that I like the phonograph best. Doubtless this is because I love music. And then it has brought so much joy into millions of homes all over the country, and, indeed, all over the world. Music is so helpful to the human mind that it is naturally a source of satisfaction to me that I have helped in some way to make the very finest music available to millions who could not afford to pay the price and time necessary to hear the greatest artists sing and play.
Many inventions are not suitable for the people at large because of their carelessness. Before a thing can be marketed to the masses, it must be made practically fool-proof. Its operation must be made extremely simple. That is one reason, I think, why the phonograph has been so universally adopted. Even a child can operate it.
Another reason, is that people are far more willing to pay for being amused than for anything else.
One great trouble with the world to-day is that people wander from place to place, and are never satisfied with anything. They are shiftless and thoughtless. They revolt at buckling down and doing hard work and hard thinking. They refuse to take the time and the trouble to lay solid foundations. They are too superficial, too flighty, too easily bored. They fail to adopt the right spirit toward their life work, and consequently fail to enjoy the satisfaction and the happiness which comes from doing a job, no matter what it is, absolutely in the best way within their power. Failing to find the joy which they should find in accomplishing something, they turn to every imaginable variety of amusement. Instead of learning to drink in joy through their minds, they try to find it, without effort, through their eyes and their ears--and sometimes their stomachs.
It is all because they won't think, won't think!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Exercise Your Mind

Gal. 3:1 (KJV) - O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

There are two important words in this Scripture that the renewed mind of the Christian must comprehend and understand. The first is the word foolish. The Greek word is anoetos, which translated means not exercising the mind. The second word is bewitched. The Greek word is baskaino, which means to malign or fascinate by false representation. Paul was lamenting that the Galatians, who had received the truth, were willing to easily accept the false teaching that was being presented to them, rather than challenging and defending the truth that had been freely given to them prior. This is the challenge that is set before every Christian. Is the Christian so persuaded by the presentation of a message that he or she fails to test it against the Word of truth? Is that Christian quick to defend the messenger before measuring the accuracy of the message? The result of not exercising the mind is being persuaded by anything that appeals to the senses. It sounds good to me; therefore, it must be true. The enemy will use that lack of knowledge to destroy the very foundation of that believer’s faith. The Lord has given us the ability to renew our minds; it is our responsibility to do it on a constant basis.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Renewing Your Mind

Eph. 4:23 (KJV) - And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

The Greek word for renewed in this Scripture is ananeoo, which means to renovate. The definition of renovate is to restore to good condition; make new or as if new again; repair. Hence, I am to restore to good condition the spirit of my mind. The Lord Himself is letting me know that the condition of my mind was depraved when I came to him, and that I must work to restore it to good condition. This renewing is not a single action. The prefix ana in the word implies repetitiveness; therefore, I must restore or repair my mind repeatedly. Renewing my mind must become a habit. Just as I ensure that I provide my body the nourishment that it needs to perform, I must intentionally devote time to renewing my mind. 1 Cor. 15:31 – “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” If I, like Paul, am to die daily, then each day I am resurrected and live anew. If I live anew, then my mind must be renewed each day. We are creatures of habit. Let your habit become one of renewing your mind daily.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A Renewed Mind

This issue of a renewed mind is one that I have been meditating on for some time, and over the next few days I will be posting thoughts here about a renewed mind. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about this issue as well, so let me know what the Lord has spoken to you on this matter.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Stepping out of the boat!

Well, this Friday will be a special day for me. It will be my last day at my company. My focus needs to be on the kingdom of God. I know by the world's standard this seems foolish; however, I am reminded that the foolishness of God is greater than man's wisdom. One of the areas of my life that was sacrificed was the daily devotionals that I used to write. I was disturbed that I allowed the cares of this world to precede the work of the kingdom. It is very easy to justify making money to have the lifestyle I want; however, the words of Jesus bring a stinging rebuke to that justification - you cannot serve God and mammon. Lately, I have been speaking about how we have allowed too much of the world to influence the church, when it should be the other way around. For example, we have no problem bringing the world's politics into the church, but what have we done to put the church into the world's politics? This is one of the many issues I will be addressing in the days and months to come.