June 25, 2020
I love driving time! I need to stay alert enough to know what’s going on around me, but not so focused that I cannot think and pray. If I just sit and pray, my mind wanders, and if it wanders, pretty soon, I’m dozing off. But when I’m driving, if my mind wanders, I just bring it back to where I want it to be.
So today, I’m driving to Rochester to visit my mother, and I’ve opened my YouTube app to listen to Rick Warren’s preaching. He’s not flamboyant, so I don’t need to see him, and he’s so orderly and structured that I can easily follow him while driving. Even better, my phone links up to my hearing aids by Bluetooth, so I get a clear feed. In the sermon i listened to this morning, pastor Rick had a lot of good things to say, but the sentence that really stuck with me was this: “You don’t have to believe everything you think.” He went on to say our thoughts lie to us. Our feelings lie to us. At any given moment, we may think, “I can’t forgive that person,” or “I can’t resist that temptation,” or “I’m no good,” or “No one likes me,” or “Things will never get better.” The list can go on and on, but the truth remains: We don’t have to believe everything we think. In fact, it’s best if we don’t.
What we need to believe is the Truth of God’s Word. God never lies to us. I may not always like what he says, but it is always the truth, and is always for our good. The truth is, God loves us, Jesus died for us, our sins are forgiven, we are a new Creation in Jesus Christ, with a new heart, a new destination, a new purpose, a new family, The Old has passed away, the former things are no more, my sins are as far from me as the East is from the West. I am forgiven, equipped, surrounded by the heavenly armies, victorious in Christ, with access to the heart and mind of the Father at any time, in any place.
The old self-defeating, self-condemning, self-serving, resentful, unforgiving, prideful thoughts may at times rear their ugly heads, but I don’t have to believe everything I think. For all this and more, I am thankful tonight.
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