Fighting for Peace

Advent and Christmas are often associated with peace, specifically the coming Prince of Peace. Though the angels proclaimed “peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14b ESV), I think we can all agree that there is a real lack of peace on earth.

I was forcefully reminded that our peace is not in temporal things when my house was broken into for the second time in twelve months. I witnessed it from across the street where I do my running around the church parking lot. In many ways, I think that made it worse this time, because of the overwhelming powerlessness of waiting for the police to arrive and hoping they would get there before the men left (which of course they didn’t). I’ll be looking for that car, and I’ll long have the image in my mind of one guy kicking my front door. At least there was nothing left worth stealing this year.

My peace and comfort have been disturbed. I’m doing what I can to improve the security of my house, but in reality, earthly security is an illusion. We can’t control the actions of people or of much of nature (as attested by the fallen trees in my yard after this week’s ice and wind). We build our lives around the things we can control. Any situation that removes the element of control makes us uncomfortable and disturbs our peace.

Jesus says in Luke 14:33, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.” I would suggest that includes our illusions of control. Anything that we believe we have control over is in danger of usurping God’s sovereignty over all things. I believe that is one of the lessons of the book of Job. When his good life disappeared, Job had to deal with the fact that all that he thought was in his domain was really transient, and he wanted to blame someone. In the end, God reminded him Who was really in control. If our treasures are on earth, they will eventually be destroyed (Matthew 6:19-21).

I’ve had many wakeful hours at night with my mind spinning with thoughts of “what if” and “I wish.” One of the Scriptures that often comes to mind is Psalm 121.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

When the world is full of dangers and strife, God doesn’t promise freedom from the effects of evil, but He does promise to keep watch over our eternal security. He won’t allow anything to happen to us that will separate us from Him (Romans 8:35-39). We can choose to dwell on the dangers and discomforts of this world and live in fear, or we can dwell on God’s goodness and faithfulness and rest in Him.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things… and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:6-9).

I find that to be a daily, sometimes hourly, battle to think upon the things that will calm my mind and enable me live in peace. God knows every detail of this broken world and He is still in control. He is at peace, so that should give us peace if we remember that and truly believe it. He is our Mighty Fortress in a world at war.

“And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us… Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever.”

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

The Picture Show

Reading through Ezekiel recently I took note of this description:

“I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel… Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up… ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, “The Lord does not see us...”’” (8:10-12 ESV).

Though written millennia ago, this almost sounds like modern day. We may not be burning incense, but nearly every house in our country has a room of moving pictures that distract us from worshiping the one true God. It’s easy to forget that God sees what happens in our homes even when no one else may know.

David said in Psalm 101:2-3a- “I will ponder the way that is blameless… I will walk with integrity of heart within my house. I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Some commentaries assert that this was written before David assumed the throne, and therefore before his sin with Bathsheba. Even the “man after God’s own heart” didn’t follow through with his good intentions. How much more vulnerable are we?

Brennan Manning wrote, “The gift of radical discipleship is pure grace to those who have no claim to it, for the deepest desires of our heart are not in our control. Were this not so, we simply would will those desires and be done with it” (The Signature of Jesus, 12). While we live on this earth, we live with conflicting desires. As Paul testified in Romans 7, we want to do what is right, but “evil lies close at hand” (7:21). Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (31:1). Few have made such a covenant, and even fewer have kept it. Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount have convicted me lately:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire… You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28).

When we remember to include our thoughts in the tally, we all sin on a regular basis in one way or another. We look at things we shouldn’t, desire things that we can’t or shouldn’t have, fantasize about some other life, worship recreation instead of God, and carry around bitterness and anger in our hearts.

“The things we think on are the things that feed our souls. If we think on pure and lovely things, we will grow pure and lovely like them; and the converse is equally true. Very few people realize this, and consequently there is a great deal of carelessness, even with careful people, in regard to their thoughts. They guard their words and actions with the utmost care, but their thoughts, which are the very root of everything in character and life, they neglect entirely. So long as it is not put into spoken words, what goes on in the mind seems of no consequence. No one hears or knows, and therefore they imagine that the vagrant thoughts that come and go do no harm. Such persons are careless about the food offered to their thoughts and accept without discrimination anything that comes” (Hannah Whitall Smith, God Is Enough, 122).

“Let the… meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Thoughts on Thoughts

On a recent read through Philippians, I happened to notice how often Paul refers to the way we think.

1:9-10 (ESV)- “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”

2:2, 5- “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind... Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

3:10, 13- “That I may know Him... But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

3:15- “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”

3:19- “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

4:8-9- “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

The way that we think is important to God, and what we think about depends largely on what we put into our minds. When Paul wrote these words, I’m sure he could never have imagined the wide variety and instantly accessible media we have today. From where I’m sitting by a lake right now, I can access the world through my phone. We have a constant temptation to use our time and brains for unprofitable things.

That’s one of the things that I’ve been convicted of lately. As I’ve been on sabbatical, I’ve had much more limited access to television than usual. I haven’t really missed it, because I’ve had other things to keep me occupied. But I know when I return to my usual schedule I will have to be careful not to get back into the same old habits. It’s just so easy to turn on the TV for background noise while I am doing other things like reading or writing. What I’ve realized though is how distracting it actually is to try to multitask. As others have pointed out, we can’t really multitask. All we can do is switch our attention rapidly from one thing to another.

While it seems like a harmless habit, there is very little on TV that qualifies under Paul’s admonition to think about things that are true, honorable, pure, lovely, etc. Even when we try to filter what we watch, there is a lot that is unworthy of our attention. I don’t want to get legalistic about it, but I know I need to set some boundaries on how I use my time and attention. I tend to go through phases of cutting things out then letting them creep back in over time. I am being reminded that God usually speaks in a still, small voice, and I’m not likely to hear Him if I’m constantly bombarded with other voices and media.

Even my “quiet times” can be fragmented by trying to do too many different things. I don’t often read an entire book of the Bible in one sitting, so it’s not surprising that I hadn’t previously noted Paul’s repeated comments on thoughts before. In particular I saw the contrast between 3:19 and 4:8-9, setting our minds on earthly things or on eternal things. Paul makes the same parallel in Romans 8:5, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” So then, why do we who have the Spirit choose to set our minds on earthly things so often? That’s a question that we may prefer to avoid unless we really want to make changes in our lives. I can see why some people will go so far as to get rid of their television. I’m not ready to take that step, but I will seriously consider what I can do to reduce the amount of “earthly input” I’m getting as compared to spiritual input.

Something to think about!

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (3:8).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Thinking About Thoughts

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 ESV). I have to confess that this can be a challenging verse for me. Not so much the first part, because I generally keep my mouth shut, but the meditation of my heart can be problematic. I was reading a book recently that mentioned the loss of self-control that occurs in some Alzheimer’s patients, and they start saying whatever comes to mind. It was kind of a wake-up call since I could easily be in that same boat in the future. And if I want my words then to reflect a pure heart, I better work on cleaning up my thoughts now.

It’s a tricky area. Everyone has thoughts that pop up seemingly out of nowhere. We may not be able to stop that from happening, but we can certainly decide whether or not we are going to dwell on them. It’s easy to rationalize that thoughts don’t really matter because they aren’t hurting anyone. But Jesus said that lustful thoughts are as sinful as lustful acts, and angry thoughts are as sinful as murder (Matthew 5:21-30). Philippians 4:8 tells us the kind of things we should think about: true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy. But if you’re like me the first thought is: “There aren’t that many good things to think about in this world!” Then the second thought is: “I have to figure out what to do about this problem I’m facing.”

I think there are ways to mull over a problem prayerfully, seeking God’s wisdom, but I also know how quickly such thoughts can degenerate into a rehearsal of everything that has gone wrong and anxiety about what else could go wrong. It requires a vigilance and consciousness of the direction your mind is heading.

This past weekend at our regional women’s retreat, I was thinking about this as I revisited Psalm 139. I realized that although I may not physically “make my bed in Sheol” or “dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,” my mind can still take me places that are better left unvisited. But even there, God is with me and desires to lead me out. I rewrote Psalm 139 for myself from that perspective, though I can’t share it publicly because it is too personal.

Though I haven’t yet mastered “taking every thought captive” when my mind is wandering down the wrong paths, I do know that it requires ongoing prayer. The first part of the prayer is “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24). Another key piece is found in verse 17, “How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!” I pray that God will make that true more and more frequently as time goes by. I want to be captivated by God’s thoughts and God’s Word, but sometimes I’m just not. Sometimes I want distraction and an escape from reality. I don’t want to have to work on self-control, and it would be nice if our brains came with a remote control that could delete channels from the menu. But that’s not how God made us. He made us to learn and grow one choice at a time. As Candy Hall mentioned at our retreat, He cares about each step we take and He celebrates each milestone of spiritual growth. I may not be where I want to be or where I think I should be, but I am moving in the right direction by His grace.

“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Lord, and whom You teach out of Your law” (Psalm 94:11-12).

Whatcha Thinking?

A couple books I’ve been reading lately have challenged me to think about thinking. It’s so easy to fall into the cycle of negative thinking and not even realize it. John Ortberg wrote:

“You can’t stop thinking wrong thoughts by trying harder to not think them, but you can do something else. You can ‘set your mind,’ for the most basic power you have over your mind is that you can choose what you pay attention to” (The Me I Want to Be).

Leslie Vernick put it this way:

“Once we become aware of our negative thoughts or feelings we often try to suppress them because we don’t like having them. Other times we acknowledge they are there but feel guilty or shamed because of them. The result is that now our original emotions are compounded with additional toxic feelings and negative thoughts” (Lord, I Just Want to Be Happy).

One morning recently I woke up long before my alarm, so I lay there for a couple hours trying to occupy my mind with good things like Scripture and prayer. I was doing okay for awhile, but then my brain latched onto a negative subject that I really didn’t want to think about, and I found myself getting angry. Eventually the only solution was to read a few chapters of Genesis until I could relax and go back to sleep. Ironically, while I felt like a slave to my brain, it was the story of Joseph being sold into slavery and ending up in prison that came up in my reading schedule. Somehow in the midst of terrible circumstances, he apparently kept his mind on holy things and remained faithful to God.

When there are truly difficult situations, it’s hard to discern exactly what you can and should think or say. You can’t live in denial and pretend everything is fine when it’s not. But you also can’t obsess over it constantly and analyze every worst-case scenario. I imagine Joseph wondered if he would ever get out of jail after having been framed by his boss’s wife. Perhaps he feared that his childhood dreams would not come true, or maybe he clung to them in faith that God would provide a way.

The Apostle Paul made several comments about our thought life:

• Colossians 3:2 (ESV)- “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
• Philippians 4:8- “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
• Romans 12:2- “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5- “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Obviously we do have the power to choose what we will dwell on, though that might be difficult at times and can even be a battle of spiritual warfare. Our enemy would be glad for us to waste time and energy thinking about failure, pain, and resentment. One of the ways we can fight that battle is to choose gratitude. Henri Nouwen wrote:

“Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of complaint. I can choose to be grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly” (as quoted by Vernick).

While it’s not always true that positive actions and words will produce positive thoughts and emotions, it certainly can help over time. Households and businesses would quickly deteriorate if people only did things when they felt like it. Since most of our thoughts involve relationships, it’s an ongoing process of loving people in word, in deed, and in truth.

I had never noticed before that following the description of godly love in 1 Corinthians 13 comes this verse: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (v. 11). Love should somehow inform the way we mature in our thought processes. I can quickly recall many times when my thoughts have been childish and petty, and I would hate for anyone to judge my level of maturity by such thoughts. Thankfully God doesn’t leave us in our immaturity, but keeps refining us through the trials and difficulties of this life.

“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” -1 Corinthians 14:20