Gathering Our Thoughts

We live in a fractured world. Current happenings conspire on a daily basis, keeping our minds so occupied with the here and now that we have no time (or even the inclination,) to ponder much of anything past the present moment. Conider these...

• sound bytes, newsflashes, 15-second commercials, abrupt segues, streaming, tweets, the internet,
• multi-tasking, cellphones, call-waiting, crowded/conflicting schedules, the tyrany of the urgent,
• media blitzkrieg, assaults on the senses; eyes, ears, nose, tastes, touch, distracted thinking, 
• double-speak, hidden agendas, mind games, political correctness, 
• catastrophic events, disasters, and tragedies occuring simultaneously around the world,
• nature's rampages; earthquakes, hurricanes, pestilences, tornadoes, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanoes,
• man's rampages; crime, hatred, predators, revolts, riots, suicide-bombers/bombings, vengeance, violence, wars and rumors of wars...

What a list! Some days go by so quickly it seems we only just got up and here, it's way past time to go to bed again. Our days are crowded with appointments and deadlines, to-do lists and schedules - and woe be to the interruption or the interruptor. Long lines, traffic jams, road rage, reckless drivers, computer glitches, and the ever-present unexpected spoil the moment and, if allowed, can derail the whole day. We run ourselves ragged until we fall into bed exhausted and then sleep poorly because our mind is too busy with the day past and the day coming to get its needed rest. That's just in the physical - think about how all this busy-ness affects our spiritual man!

From the beginning, this rat-race mentality was never God's intent. And while He knows the circumstances of this present world, it is still not His intent for us. He told His disciples, "Come ye apart and rest a while." He spoke to us all when He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Tom Fred Tenney said, "Keep the main thing the main thing." Therein lies the key! A magazine article entitled, "Must.Focus" listed five reasons for distracted thoughts; 1.) Stress, 2.) Multi-tasking, 3.) Life change, 4.) Getting older, and, 5.) Too much on my plate. [Source: Ladies Home Journal,"Must.Focus," December 2011/January 2012, pg. 54.]  The author said sensory overloads are common today. So much so that a national magazine considered it a worthwhile topic. We all get into trouble when our priorities schedule us. What we should be doing is scheduling our priorities. This is not just a semantic difference.

"The tyrany of the urgent" is mentioned in the bullet list following the first paragraph. Urgent, my friend, does not mean what we seem to think it means. Urgent is not an emergency! It may be important, but it's not life or death. Too many times we allow what is merely urgent to usurp the crucial. An old song says, "...for one-hundred years from now, it won't matter anyhow..." It's the truth! In the light of the eternal, Adam's walks and talks with God in the cool of the day were far more important than the momentary pleasure of forbidden fruit. That one choice changed everything; yet, nothing changed - for that same choice sits before us today.

Where are our priorities? Are they temporal? or eternal? after the flesh? or after the Spirit? When our priorities are set, our choices align themselves accordingly (and our "to do" list will follow suit). Daniel "purposed in his heart not to defile himself..." That purpose affected the rest of his life. Rehoboam was the last king of all Israel (the twelve tribes). Grandson of David, son of the wisest man who ever lived, yet he did not "prepare his heart to seek the LORD." That choice made all the difference - and as a result, Rehoboam lost it all! [See Daniel 1:8; & II Chronicles 12:13-14.]

Now more than ever, we need to gather our thoughts, prepare our mind, purpose in our heart, and focus our attention on what's truly important. Majoring in minors is a tool used by both the flesh and the enemy. Jesus said tithing of mint, anise, and cummin (seeds) wasn't wrong, but omitting the weightier matters, (justice, mercy, the love of God and your fellow-man,) was a critical error. When our mind is preoccupied with the mundane, it can't recognize the glimpses of glory God sends our way. Distracted thinking prevents us from gathering our thoughts and lofting them into eternity's flow.

Here's the remedy...

• "Let [allow/permit] this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..." (Philippans 2:5)
• "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;" (I Peter 1:13, see also 14-16.)
• "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing [every misplaced priority] that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (II Corinthians 10:5)
• "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."   (Isaiah 26:3)
• "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2)
• "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)