This is the third installment on the subject of what to do with the matter of evil. In the first minute we were born, life showed itself as struggle to survive, thrive and succeed. Thinking is hard work and accurate thinking is doubly hard. If you haven’t read the first two articles with the same name please do so as I will be building a line of thinking that will make more sense if you have all the pieces. What we think and how we think is crucial to whether or not we live in the real world or live in a fantasy or nightmare. Many times we go though life like we were riding on a slippery slide. Remember that one? You have this long sheet of plastic that is hooked up to water through a garden hose so you can have a blast sliding down. I think they got outlawed because they were so dangerous!:) What was fun was also dangerous. You could easily break and arm or leg or worse. Some people seem to think that going through life is just like that slippery slide…..take a running leap and slide though life having fun. The truth is, unless you know how to approach life, the journey can indeed be a nightmare and no fun at all.
Paul the apostle wrote to a young Christian church in Rome about the history of man’s fall from a healthy relationship with God and how to regain it. Once we are forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God, Paul challenges us to change how we think about life because it was that wrong thinking that got us into trouble in the first place. Paul was telling young believers that your thinking shapes your future and your experiences……so you need help!
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
In article two, we talked about how our “Attitude” sets the stage for our view of God, people and things. If our attitude is negative, then we reject everything, no matter who or what is trying to help us. Food is a good example. If someone we trust says a certain food or product is bad, then more than likely we will avoid it. If that same person we trust tells us something is good and that we should try it, more than likely we will. If what we have learned about God comes from a person with a negative attitude towards God, we will, in turn, avoid God even though He may be trying to help or heal us as the Bible says he is.
The second stage of thinking that affects what we do in life is our “Reason“, which shapes our conclusions. Here is the google definition of reason, which is fairly good.
Reason – The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.
Reason is the capacity of consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic, and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information. … Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect.
Now I understand that “thinking” on topics like this may be boring for many, but they are the “keys” in our success or failure. If these two keys, attitude and reason, are incorrect and stay that way though life, then we are headed for disaster. Our thinking, which includes our attitudes and reason, needs to be adjusted regularly or our conclusions will lead us down the wrong path in life. My own attitude and reasoning about God, life and living were twisted before coming to Christ and thus I ended up experiencing brokenness that I was never meant to experience. The so-called facts I reasoned with were wrong and thus my conclusions ended up being wrong as well. When I understood that God did not hate me, but in fact loved me in spite of my brokenness, my attitude and reasoning got adjusted. That adjustment opened my life to the possibility that my brokenness was not permanent and could be overcome with God’s help.
In the book of Psalms, we learn that God’s word can become more than a book we hardly read and instead become a spotlight in our journey of life. It is unfortunate that some people have a flashlight and fail to use it.
Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So, the word of God can and should correct the wrong concepts that keep messing up our lives. Have you ever traveled to a new town and checked into a new hotel that you have never been in before and then tried to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom? Bam – you hit the leg of a table with your toes and the pain is excruciating. God’s word is written to keep us from all those dark rooms where an accident is waiting to happen.
Paul, writing in the book of Romans, tells us that our attitude and reasoning should combine together to live as God intended by rejecting hypocrisy because living falsely is actually fueled by evil. Evil, which originates from Satan, contaminates and corrupts. Evil is behind all that is wrong in life and if we don’t know how to recognize evil for what it truly is we will be overcome by it.
Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Paul also talked a lot about our “nature” in his writings. He discussed how we develop patterns of living from the attitudes and reasons of our heart, which often are twisted by elements of evil. Unless we discover how to recognize evil, we will always be falling over its lies. In the next article, I will be talking about the third key in our thinking process that will set us securely on the road of life God intended. Let me close this article with this one promise and warning that God’s word gives all of us. If we don’t recognize, the warning we will suffer. If we recognize the warning and the promise, we will be blessed.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Questions:
1) Has your attitude or your reasoning been compromised? Only the word of God can correct that.
2) Have you tried to avoid evil without God’s help? Only by submitting to the Holy Spirit of God will you find victory.
May the Holy Spirit move us into health and healing.
Pastor Dale
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