I have heard it said, "some things are simply, Mind over Matter", but how can that be when what Matters seems to captivate our Mind? This is one of those tough statements that everyone must face from time to time, yet once the matter is dealt with, our minds seem to re-adjust. How can this be?
I can relate to the Disciples who followed Jesus around for 3 years, only to come to an end of the road one early evening on a cool Friday night. Fact is, we all know how Peter instantly forgot about his relationship with Jesus moments after he was prepared to die for his friend when Jesus was arrested. Was the inward battle Peter faced, more about the matter greater than his mind could understand?
I honestly believe we face this kind of turmoil quite often in our lives. Turmoil in our thoughts that expand and enlarge our circumstances more than we understand, more than we comprehend, more than we are able to except in our natural thinking.
Maybe that's it, we deal with matters of life from a foundation of the natural, leaving us limited in our thought life, unable to shift our ideas, our plans, our emotions, and/or our experiences so the outcome of our matters flex and bend in the direction we long for.
In the passage of Scripture heading this devotion; Matthew 10:34, Jesus is speaking to His Disciples, giving them further instruction for service and ministry. He says to them, "Do Not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!"
WOW... The Prince of Peace is teaching His closest friends and future ministry partners, that He did not come to bring peace..... but a sword! Now if that isn't a Matter quite difficult to wrap around your mind, it sure would have been for those who walked with Him, for He had continually taught on love, on a loving and graceful God, a God of second chances, a God of hope, a God of eternity who longs for them to be with His Father, and now He teaches in one verse something that establishes cracks in their natural minds...
Do you ever feel like your heading somewhere with God one moment, then instantly you find God heading a different direction? This can immediately become dichotomy between faith in God and assurance in human abilities. This is where the rubber meets the road for the depth of our faith. Are we moving about in our lives by what we see, know, experienced, and feel, or are we moving based on faith in an unknown, unseen, God?
The following verses in this passage of teaching, takes us down a road of great concern. Jesus teaches that He has come to set a man against his family, that his enemies will be in his own household, that to find ourselves we must first be lost, to gain life we must be willing to die, etc. What is it about a God who in His very meaning is defined as Love, yet in His teachings, He teaches division? Could this be where the line in drawn in the sand between a Fan and/or a Follower?
I have discovered that the greatest tragedy for a man is that He never truly discovers His true identity & purpose. People live their whole lives never truly living. They have many things, know many things, desire many things, try many things, suffer many things, only to die and never truly live. Why is that?
All of this has to do with a Kingdom mind over a natural thought. It is impossible to know the mind of God, less the Spirit reveals it. It is impossible for a man to think as God thinks, unless He thinks with the Mind of Christ. A Covenant Commitment is never influenced by a Natural response. Only the mind of God can unfold the mysteries of life.
So what's our part, to stay focused. To concentrate on the Lord and practice His presence continually. Every matter of circumstance that arises, should forever be inspected through the lenses of God's eyes. What does He see? How does He see it?
For this to take place, we must stand where He stands, sit where He sits, go where He goes, say what He says, and be moved in life by what He thinks.
May our prayer today be "Lord, remove from me all natural hang ups and give me the Mind of Christ, the eyes of the Spirit, and the power to stand ready to receive your unfailing wisdom."
