Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Desert of the Mind


Beware this place... it's a place of thoughtlessness, boredom or unhealthy wanderings.
The mind, like a museum, collects things... A museum will house priceless artifacts, art, collections and pieces of history, and much, much more.The mind will house those things and ideals that will effect and even define our character. The quality of a museum, or of your mind, depends solely on the quality of that which takes residence inside.
My use of the word thoughtlessness (which I began with) is not to describe actions made in haste, words spoken out of place or anything that lends to the idea of the actions that lead to a mistake. It is simply to describe the place of the mind that is void of providential, productive thoughts.Be wary of days, where in reflection, you find your mind has been in essence, void of productivity. It is not only important to watch for this, but it is a biblical principle. What do you think the scriptures means when it says: "Love the Lord your God with all of your.... .mind." How do we love, with our minds?
Often we confuse the role of our soul, with that of our mind. It is our mind that reasons, thinks and ponders ideals. We've learned to govern what goes in our mind; but, have we learned to cultivate it and love with it? There is more to loving with our minds than minding what we watch or hear, or even keeping close watch on the cleanliness of our thoughts. Just like, loving another person requires more than making sure your eyes remain only for him or for her, the mind requires more-than this to love with it. When you love someone, there will be actions, words, requirements, etc... involved to show this. The spouse wants to know they've captured the admiration of his or her lover, the Father wants to know He's captured the mind of his child.
For the body to be healthy, you must watch what you eat. You must exercise. For your relationships to be strong, you must learn of one another - all this requires work,time and effort. Our mind is a place that needs all these things.
Loving Jesus requires that we bring before Him our best, excellence is the word that comes to mind. Thus, we must take seriously the call to love Him with our minds.In excellence we can train, grow and exercise our mind so that it is sharp and can love Him. To ponder history, to learn a new trade, to seek out a new level of understanding in a relationship, etc... all these things are important! We must also head the call to ponder and meditate on scripture, to learn theology and to seek Him out!
Thoughtless days are void all of these things. Your mind will find different places to wander yes- but beware wandering for it is wandering that provides the most opportunity to slip, fall and get caught in traps set up by the enemy. There truly are days, where the mind requires rest. However, by training your mind to be productive, by practicing even, a Kingdom mindset... your mind will not so quickly forget these things even in your rest.Make it a habit.
Your mind is the door to deeper depths, to begin unlocking Kingdom revelation and to strengthening up foundations of relationships between those here on earth, and your Father in Heaven. Tend it, grow it, exercise it, and as a result know how to love with your mind. When the mind is busy, there's less room for distractions set up by the devil and there's more ways for the Lord to speak.

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