Mentally Engaged
So much of what goes on in the name of Christianity consists of people mindlessly going through the motions of various forms of religion, devotion and piety. But acts of devotion, pious ceremonies and forms of true religion result in anything but good, when the participant’s mind is somewhere else. In principle, the Scripture repeatedly warns us not to be churchgoers who are singing songs about eternal truths while thinking about what needs to be purchased at the grocery store, praying prayers while attempting to adjudicate the motives of the one leading, or listening to a sermon while pondering the yard work that needs to be done, the kid’s next ball game or that up coming business trip.
God wants our full attention when we approach the God-centered activities of his assembled church. We dare not let our minds drift when we are being led to think of the majesty of our Creator, the redemption of his Son, or the work of God’s Spirit in our lives. Lyrics and outlines require our full attention. And when we fix our hearts and minds on them, God goes to work. His powerful word penetrates to the exposure of our thoughts, intentions and attitudes.
God wants to do great, meaningful and lasting things in our lives. They begin with giving God our full and undivided attention.
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Let’s get to the heart of the matter; human thoughts and wisdom is futile. Not even Jesus relied on his own thinking as fully man and capable of personal thought as witness by others and us, nor did He equated himself equal to God but emptied himself and became a servant; truthfully, does a servant tell his master what to will do? The Lord knows the thoughts and the wisdom of men are futile to the point He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Paul himself knew the futility of his thinking, the waging of war between the mind and the flesh. Jesus became wisdom for us and EVERY TIME we rely on our own thinking we are only fooling ourselves and are actually endangered of being cut off. Do not merely be hearers of the word deceiving yourselves, do what it says; for Jesus, the word and wisdom who became flesh became the eternal Salvation for all who OBEYED HIM, because of his reverent fear and obedience towards God. Now if you’re are thinking obedience is impossible, you do not believe that all thing are possible for those who love Him, but are allowing you thinking to get in the way. Jesus gives us alternative for all our shortcomings and sins that we get to do when sin is realized. We are not perfect or without sin, but for those who are being perfected, they shall be saved.
Outside of someone distorting God’s word, this is how one becomes born again and there is no other way; Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the ‘right to become’ children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
What does it mean to receive Jesus? What does it mean to believe? To love Him and Keep His commandments.
What does “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” look like?
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
This is what it looks like…
The Parable of the Sower Explained…
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”