My Untended Thoughts: A Link-Up in Pages in Our Heritage of Faith

It's truly shocking how quickly my thoughts can slip into criticism and negativity. When I am not immersed in Him, bathed in His Words, actively pursuing His Heart, my sin nature rears its ugly head and I find myself thinking about how irritating someone is, or how much I dislike certain things, or how I wish "they" (whoever that is at the moment) would just leave me alone for a little while. 


Complacency is not neutral. 


Without the active, constant submission to the purification by the Spirit of my thoughts, words, and actions, it gets ugly. Fast! Even after all of these years of walking with Him, I am still filled with me. Simply entertaining those negative thoughts erodes the foundation of my days. The picture above shows a gargantuan boulder perched precariously on a constantly eroding base in Arches National Park. The wind and rain remove a grain here, a grain there. And one day, without warning, that boulder will fall. 


And just like that, my day can implode. 


Whatever finally ends up being the "last straw," isn't really the issue, is it? 


When I come to the end of my proverbial rope, it is not someone else's fault. It is because I have allowed myself to justify numerous self-absorbed choices during the day. And when I finally give myself permission to react to "one more thing," I feel entitled to a full-fledged pity party with all the trimmings. But it isn't because "one too many thing" happened in my day. There's not "one too many things" when we are walking by the Spirit. Anything He allows to come our way is paralleled by enough Grace (the power and desire to do His Will) to respond in a way that Glorifies Him. 


Always! So that I am without excuse. Ever! 


Thankfully, the Holy Spirit, is not okay with me being a whiney baby. :)


And, depending on how quickly I listen, He brings me to my senses, Lovingly showing me a better way. 


Ahhh, it's so much better than "my way." 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For the arms of our warfare [are] not fleshly, but powerful according to God to [the] overthrow of strongholds;overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ;

The choice is mine to make. Each moment of each day. Through the Indwelling Spirit, I can choose to allow Him to take every thought captive. Or, I can choose to be offended, irritated by whatever doesn't suit me, whatever doesn't go according to my plans. 


The difference in the "fruit" is glaring. 


My way=Rotten, moldy, wormy disgusting fruit


His Way=Glorious fruit, always


Hmmmm . . .   


Why do I keep choosing unwisely? I must like wormy fruit. :)


Romans 7:14-8:6



¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
 ²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
   So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.


¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. ⁵ Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 


In what way has He shown Himself Faithful? Has He disciplined you lately to Lovingly shape you more into the Image of His Son? What about that family story that has been passed down to you testifying of His Faithfulness through the generations? Has your child's heart quickened to His Voice? His Faithfulness testifies all around us, through all our days. Will you share a story here with us? By testifying, you bring Him Glory and you edify the Body. What a blessing! As always, what you link can be anything, old or new. Thank you for joining us here. Your testimonies are a blessing to me!