Sober Thinking

What is your perspective of yourself? Do you think highly of yourself? Do you think you are better than others? Do you always put yourself first? Do you think lowly of yourself? Do you think of others as being better than yourself? Are you always bowing down to others?

How we view ourselves is important. We are not to think too highly of ourselves. At the same time, we are not to think too lowly of ourselves. There will be times when we are meant to lead and there will be times when we are to follow. We must recognize the situation for what it is.

The Apostle Paul warns against thinking too highly of ourselves. But he wasn’t saying we should think lowly of ourselves. He says we are to think with sober judgment. We might say that we are to be objective. We are to evaluate the situation. We are to use our heads for more than a hat rack, think critically and logically. We are to use our faith in God to ask for discernment and wisdom.

I have worked with people, and continue to do so, in which there are times I am leading the group and at other times someone else is leading. There have been times when I allow someone else to lead to teach them how to lead. We may have the best idea for a project one time and someone else another time. None of us are gifted to be the one with all the answers. We must be of sober mind, recognizing our limitations, and willing to listen to others. In all our striving, we must ask God for his wisdom through our faith and be willing to follow God’s guidance.

I pray we all realize we are not to think too highly of ourselves. I pray we use sober judgment in all situations. I pray each one of us will ask God for wisdom through our faith and follow his guidance. Do not think too highly of yourself. Be of sober mind. Ask God for wisdom. Follow God’s guidance.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Be Transformed

Have you ever felt like you did not know which way to turn? Have you been caught in the middle. Have you experienced indecision, unable to determine what the best decision is? Have you been torn between two good options? How did you make your final decision?

Some decisions are easy. Other decisions are more difficult. The difficult decisions may include ones that have two good options. We wrestle with determining the best option. We weigh the pros and cons of each option. We may consult someone we trust to help with the decision.

We may wonder how we can know God’s will. There is a simple yet challenging answer. We must let go of this world and be transformed. We must let go of the worry, anxiety, fear, hatred, partisanship, discrimination, partiality, vengefulness, selfishness, and greed this world wants us to pursue. All of it must be tossed out of our lives. We cannot hold onto even one iota of it.

Instead, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our thoughts and focus must be on God. We must open our eyes, our ears, and our minds to seeing and hearing and understanding God. We must stop chasing after the world and start chasing after God. The answer is simple. The task is hard, because the world does not want to let us go. The world pulls at us to continue as it does. To understand God’s will, we must make him our focus. When we do, we will see the world in a completely different way—through God’s eyes.

I pray we all choose to let go, to push the world away. I pray we decide to focus on God. I pray each one of us will open our eyes, ears, and minds so that we may be renewed and transformed. Let go of the world. Focus on God. Renew your minds. Be transformed.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Pray in God’s Will

Do you believe in providence? Do you believe you can speak things into being? Do you believe you can pray things into being? Have you tried to do so? If so, what have been the results? Will you continue to try to influence things? Do you know how to have more success?

Some people believe you can speak things into being. They believe that by throwing it out into the universe it can happen. Others believe that by praying for it, it will happen. Most people experience mixed results. They often wonder why their requests are not granted.

God continually works in our world, even if we do not always see what he is doing. He was at work in the rescue of Moses. Though Pharoah had ordered all male Israelites to be killed, which the midwives disobeyed, Moses’s mother hid him for three months. Finally, she decided she could not do so any longer and put him in a basket in the river. We can see God’s fingerprints in many places during Moses’s early life. Pharoah’s daughter asked a maid to get the basket. The maid suggested she find a nursing mother and found Moses’s mother. God at work.

God works in our lives, too. But when we ask for God to do something for us, we may not get the answer we want, then we wonder why. The logical reason is that we are not asking within God’s will. Far too often, we ask selfishly. Even if we are asking for healing, for ourselves or someone else, we often have selfish motives. God sees right through that. When we make our requests in accordance with God’s will, we will receive the answer we want.

I pray we all know that God is working in our world. I pray we seek to be in and understand God’s will. I pray each one of us will make our requests to God within his will. God is working in our world. Seek to understand God’s will. Seek to be in God’s will. Make your requests in God’s will.

Exodus 2:5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.

Fearful Actions

What fears do you have? What does your fear cause you do? Do you do things you would not otherwise do? Do you later regret having done those things? Have you noticed it was fear that drove you to do them? Will you strive to not allow fear to be the cause for doing bad things?

Fear can cause us to do things we would not normally do. Fear can cause us to run away. Fear can be the reason for us treat people badly. Fear can drive us away from our loved ones. But we do not have to be slaves to our fear. We can be relieved of it, if we will turn it over to God.

Pharoah was afraid. He thought the explosion of the Israelite population could result in them turning against him. To counter his fear, he put them into forced labor. He set taskmasters over them to drive them hard all day. His fear caused him to attempt to keep them under control through domination and heavy oppression. Pharoah’s fear drove him to forgo negotiation and working together.

Our fear can cause us to do things we would not normally do. But we don’t have to allow that to happen. We can turn our fears over to God. We can decide to work through our fears rather than submitting to them. We have a choice. We can make the decision. We do not have to fall prey to our fears. God can and will take away our fears, if we will honestly and truthfully turn them over to him.

I pray we all face our fears. I pray we choose to give our fears to God, asking him to remove them from us. I pray each one of us will are freed from our fears by God and live free of them. Face your fears. Give your fears to God. Ask God to remove your fears. Be free of your fears.

Exodus 1:12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

Walk Securely

How confident are you? Does it depend on your situation? Do you wrestle with worry and anxiety in certain circumstances? Do you have confidence in your abilities? Are you confident in God’s promises? Are you confident in your faith and your ultimate place with God?

Confidence can come and go depending on our situation. When we are thrust into a new situation, we can be nervous or anxious. When we find ourselves in a bit of trouble, we can worry about the final outcome. However, even in those situations, we can be confident.

What, or who, can give us the confidence we desire? Our faith in God and God himself. That is a very simple answer. Yet it is not simple for us. Our faith is not always as strong as we would like. Though we know intellectually God is with us, we may not always feel him or have a strong conviction that he is with us, which results in nervousness, anxiety, and worry.

In today’s Proverb, we see that we can walk securely or confidently when we walk with integrity. But that word integrity doesn’t give a full meaning of the Hebrew word used by King Solomon. The Hebrew word means integrity, completeness, fulness, and wholeness. Therefore, when we walk in this way, we can be confident in not only who we are but who we are with God.

Knowing who we are with God, being confident in that, relieves us of worry and anxiety. Our trust in him and our standing with him, relieves stress and builds confidence. We trust that our place with him is secure, that we have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.

I pray we all walk in integrity and wholeness with Jesus. I pray we are confident and secure in our relationship with God. I pray each one of us will place our trust in Jesus and be relieved of worry and anxiety. Walk with integrity. Walk with Jesus. Trust Jesus. Be confident in Jesus.

Proverbs 10:9

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, 

but whoever follows perverse ways will be found out.

Jesus Heals Our Spirits

How often do you ask for what you need? How often do you ask for what you want? Who do you ask? When you ask God, how do you ask? What is your attitude? Do you believe he can provide? Do you have faith that he will answer? What if the answer is no? Will you still believe?

We ask God for lots of things in our prayers. We may ask for healing. We may ask for peace. We may ask for frivolous things such as a new car, tickets for a concert, or even just a dinner at a restaurant. Most of us have what we need—a home, clothing, food, and drink.

Jesus’s ministry initially focused on the Jews. So, when a Canaanite woman came to Him, He dismissed her. However, she persisted, asking that Jesus remove a demon from her daughter. Because she persisted with faith that He could remove the demon, He relented and gave her what she desired. The request was not just about physical healing; it was about spiritual healing as well. Jesus is all about spiritual healing.

Many of us will ask for physical healing and are disappointed when God does not heal in the way we want. We may question our faith. Is it strong enough? Do not question your faith based on this exchange between Jesus and the Canaanite woman. She was asking for something more important than physical healing, which is not to diminish physical healing. But spiritual healing is critical from God’s perspective.

When we ask God for something in a prayer, it is less about faith, though faith is important, than it is about God’s will. The more we are in tune with God’s will, the more our prayers will align with it. The more our prayers align with God’s will, just as the Canaanite woman’s, the more likely our prayers will be answers as we want.

I pray we all trust that Jesus can heal. I pray we trust Him to heal our spirits. I pray each one of us will seek God’s will and align our prayers to it. Jesus can heal. Jesus heals our spirits. Seek God’s will. Align your will with God’s will.

Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.

Evil Intentions

Yesterday, we saw that Jesus said it was not what we ate but what comes out of our mouths that defiles us. It is our hearts and minds that are corrupted that makes us offensive. In today’s passage, Jesus gives an explicit list as an example of thoughts and behaviors that defile us.

Though we may agree Jesus’s list is contained bad things, we may still have those thoughts or behaviors. Notice that Jesus says all of them are generated from evil intentions. If we have any of these behaviors, we likely don’t think of them as evil. After all, we are good people, right?

Whether we want to admit it or not, Jesus is absolutely correct. It is evil intentions behind our willingness to act in these ways. Our culture likes to gloss over most of them. We will quickly agree murder and theft are evil and should be punished. False witness and slander are against our laws but are much more difficult to prove. People lie and spread rumors about others every day. It is only when doing so in an official capacity that they may be brought up on charges.

Adultery and sexual immorality are often swept under the rug, covered up, or dismissed. Sure, we may say they are bad and we may not hang out with those people, but we quickly move on. Yet, they are no less evil. There are often far-reaching consequences from them. Relationships are broken. Families torn apart. Friendships dissolved.

How do we keep from falling prey to these evil intentions? Our only hope is to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives. To listen to God’s guidance that comes through the Holy Spirit. To be willing and to ask God to change our hearts and minds. We must be willing to leave our old self behind and become the new person Jesus wants us to be.

I pray we all identify the evil intentions in our own hearts. I pray we desire to remove evil intentions from our hearts. I pray each one of us welcome the Holy Spirit and ask God to clean us on the inside. Identify evil intentions. Desire to be clean. Ask God to remove your evil intentions.

Matthew 15:19-20 “For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

The Vilest

What do you consider to be vile? What is it that absolutely disgusts you? What makes you feel as though you are dirty and need to get a shower? How do you think you can be made to be dirty or offensive? Are there foods that are disgusting to you? Will you eat them?

We are offended by something we believe is vile or disgusting. There are situations from which we feel like we are dirty, and we want to take a shower. Those outward, visible things that disgust us or the feelings we have from bad situations can truly cause us to revolt against them.

But Jesus doesn’t speak about those outward things. He speaks about inward things. He says it is not what we put in our mouth that defiles us, it is what comes out. There were foods the Jews could not eat. Jesus, in this single statement, made all of them clean to eat. It is about what we say, our tone of voice, and our attitude while saying it. Our actions will reflect what is inside of us, just as our words will.

How do we correct it? We must correct what is inside us. We must be willing to leave our old self behind. We must be willing to become a new self, one that is fully committed to Jesus and His way of thinking and acting. Our mindset must be changed. Our hearts must be changed. This is the point Jesus wants us to understand. We must be clean on the inside to be clean on the outside.

I pray we all decide to clean ourselves from the inside out. I pray we choose to commit fully to Jesus. I pray each one of us choose to change our minds and hearts, understanding Jesus. Clean your inside. Commit to Jesus. Have the mind of Jesus. Have the heart of Jesus. Understand Jesus.

Matthew 15:10-11 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”

Show Mercy

What does mercy mean to you? Do you think of mercy as forgiveness? Do you think it means showing compassion? Do you think it is having pity on someone? Do you believe it only applies to friends or family? Will you show mercy to an enemy? How does God show mercy to you?

Showing mercy to others can be a challenge. We may think they deserve what is coming. We may have said, “they have made their bed, now they must lie in it.” Mercy includes forgiveness, compassion, and pity. We are called to show mercy to others in the same way God has shown mercy to us.

God is merciful to all of us, even if we may think otherwise. If God was a hateful God, he would strike us down the moment we were disobedient. Thankfully, God is a merciful God. He allows us to not only continue to live but blesses us in ways we do not realize. We are blessed with family, friends, jobs, homes, food, clothing, and any number of possessions. It is in God’s mercy that we stand.

Though we are disobedient, God shows mercy to us. Though others are disobedient, God shows mercy to them. We like to point the finger at the disobedience of others. We would be better served to recognize our disobedience and thank God for his mercy on us. It is when we take on this attitude that we are better positioned to show mercy to others.

I pray we all recognize our disobedience toward God. I pray we thank God for his mercy on us. I pray each one of us will show mercy to others, even those we deem as our enemies. Recognize your disobedience. Thank God for his mercy. Show mercy to others.

Romans 11:32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Live In Unity

How well do you live with others? Are you willing to get along? Are you willing to compromise? Are you willing to forgive? Will you agree on the main things and not worry about the small things? Will you live in unity of what is important? Will you do what is best for all?

Living with others can be a challenge, even those we love. Disagreements happen. Feelings get hurt. Emotions may run high. Getting along with family we do not live can also be a challenge for the same reasons. Despite those things happening, we can still live together in unity.

Unity does not mean we agree on everything. It does mean we agree on the main thing. This is especially true for the church. We may not achieve unanimous agreement on what flowers are to be planted nor the color of the signs. We can all state many things that occur that we do not agree with. But disagreement does not need to divide us.

Agreeing that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior is foundational. Agreeing that Jesus was born, lived among us, died on a cross, was buried, and rose on the third day is foundational. Agreeing that God has called all of us to be in mission with him is foundational. How we go about mission will be different for each of us depending on our spiritual gifts.

The Psalmist tells us it is good and pleasant when we live together in unity. He did not say we must agree on everything. It is a choice for us to live in unity. Some will refuse to do so because they want things their way. It is our willingness to live together in unity despite our differences that we learn new things. Without the diversity of thought, we never grow.

I pray we all realize we do not have to agree on everything. I pray we choose to be gracious toward one another. I pray each one of us will choose unity rather than division. We won’t always agree with others. Be gracious in disagreement. Choose to be unified in Jesus.

Psalm 133:1

How very good and pleasant it is 

when kindred live together in unity!