I bought a used snowblower on a 78 degree day. End of summer in Montana, I think we spend six months planning for winter and six months living winter. Everyone is buying, cutting, splitting and stacking firewood in anticipation of snowy cold weather. Amazing.
Last week it was 9-11, a day that lives in our memories and we all have stories to tell about where we were and thoughts evoked as the news got out. After that day, the thoughts that have woven their way throughout our society and way we live, are interesting to contemplate. There are paranoia and suspicions that guide actions and the actions of governments around the world. A multifaceted approach that some argue has been right, and many others say are suspect.
Then there is a long list of current events that have cost life and limb for people local people and those around the world. Floods, earthquakes, economics, fuel prices, housing and food considerations, personal illnesses and, and, and…
As the latest strain of COVID appears, we are reminded of the post COVID world we live in. The shutting down of society for the sake of something we couldn’t see and that affected too many but left many saying surely there was a better way to handle it, besides the lockdowns and masks we all endured. Now finding that for many the vaccines were not what was originally hoped for and many becoming anti-vaxers in a not helpful way.
Our thinking is shaped daily by so many events in our day to day living. That well known saying: “The person you are five years from now will be determined by the books you read and the people you meet.” I can say that saying has shaped my thinking just on its face value, I evaluate relationships and books in light of how they shape me. What thoughts control me and my behaviour? What things have you experienced or read that have shaped who you are and how you think?
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5)
As a Gospel minister, I could probably do about three sermons to introduce this text. We all live life, or as the Apostle says here, our walk in the flesh, the war of our thoughts “according to the flesh”. We either let the thoughts rule us or we put them into captivity, under control. I have talked to many people over the years that have had ‘issues’ about a myriad of things, sometimes though the issue is real, the getting through it is hard work. I want it to be Christ that causes my thoughts to be obedient to Him, not a life of fear or one that is out of control.
So, we all must answer that for our own lives: Who/what will we allow to control our lives and thinking? Will it be Christ or our outward circumstances?
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