False Thoughts Made Whole

You’re not supposed to beat the enemy in ministry. You’re supposed to beat him in your relationship with God. Do you know that he is powerless against a man who just stands before God as a much-loved child?
~ Graham Cooke

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Philippians 3

Oh beloved, it is true. The very thing we tend to seek – is the very thing we cannot have. We want to be in control. Our minds scream and wretch and lash out for something that will give us the peace we seek.

And it slips away.

And the stress mounts. And we take another run at suppressing the urges within us to go loud and angry and Type-A. And the harder we try to suppress the urge, the greater the impetus to explode grows within.

And then it gets worse.

The evil one – the father of lies – begins to cast the fiery darts of dark thoughts toward us. And at first, the darts seem to be our own thoughts. This liar wants us to think we still have a bit of the evil old nature running around inside of us – and set us to doubting whether we really are anything in Christ after all. We even begin to notice anger and animosity and even hatred-filled thoughts banging around in our skulls.

The liar will ever attempt to cast horrid thoughts into our minds as some sort of spoof against our new identity. And to make matters worse, if we fall for the feint, this same liar then dons the mantle of accuser and taunts us over our falsely-perceived failure to behave (or even think) as we expect we should.

Something is wrong. Actually two things.

One, we are beginning to listen to a voice that is absolutely not our own. For in Christ, we really do have His Mind. And that mind has a voice that is absolutely full of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and self-Control. The voice of our Beloved calls from deep to deep and leads us toward those things which are True and Noble and Just and Pure and Lovely and Virtuous and Honorable and Worthy of Praise. Oh, the battles along the way may be intense – but they are external – and do not have the effect of souring or embittering us on the inside.

And two, there is still the capacity within us for some wretched bouts of soulish pride and self-righteousness. Our brains still have the wiring they had before we were born again, and can generate impulses out the old patterns of thought in the mind. And when the world or the people around us do not perform as we expect they should, we can quickly flash towards anger. This anger is often veiled in more sophisticated wrappings of “concern” or “caring” or “duty” or “honor” or “country,” – but anger it is.  And the anger of man never (read not ever) brings about the righteousness of G_d.

And neither of the above, are battles we can win on our own. The devil is enormously powerful compared to a regular human being. And the daft wanderings of our broken brains make clear thought impossible all the time.

What to do? 

Stand still. Wait. We are not alone beloved. Not ever. And when we allow ourselves to come to a full stop for even just a moment, we can be overwhelmed with the goodness of the only One who is good. 

He knows our conundrum
He is not confused.
He is not dismayed.
He is not disappointed.
He is not tired.
He is not frustrated.
He is not angry.
He is not disillusioned.
He is not at a loss for what to do.
He is not repulsed.

And He, regardless of how we are feeling this moment, finds us lovely as a flawless and perfect bride. For in Christ, He has put the liar and his powers to open shame through the shed blood of our risen Groom. So we are now, to put in bluntly beloved, gorgeous to Him.

Can we see it? There is a question before us which must be answered. Are we willing to surrender to this kind of devastating Love? For Love like this casts aside the last dregs of any of our old thinking… everything has to go. Everything has to go, because it simply doesn’t make any sense (with our flesh and brains) that any god would love us this way. But if its true (and it is) that He Loves us this way, there is no longer any place for listening to the lies of the evil one, or even our old self. Perfect Love casts out fear and anger and angst. It has to go.

Do we want it? Will we yield to it? May this fool of a writer suggest something tonight? Say yes. Lay back beloved, and let Him take you into His arms tonight. You will not regret the decision to give yourself wholly to Him.