How God Thinks
I am not the neatest person in the world, are you?
The sad truth is that I did not receive the “cleaning gene” that most women seem to receive at birth … or at least when they begin to care for a home of their own.
More often than not, there are dishes in my sink, clothes on my bedroom floor, and yesterday’s towels strewn across my bathroom. (I am blushing right now.)
Some days, my bed is haphazardly made, but most often, it is left askew from my postmenopausal sleeping patterns. Additionally, my kitchen floor perpetually needs sweeping, and my laundry is a never-decreasing mountain on the laundry room floor.
It’s not that I am opposed to cleaning, I just always have more important things to do, like answer e-mails or read a book or talk to one of my children on the phone!
I know...I know...I know.... If I would just spend a little bit of time every day on my home, I might be able to keep it in order. I get that; I do!
I have a friend who has tried to train me from the earliest days of my marriage that if I would just spend one hour a day first thing in the morning on cleaning and straightening, my house would never get disgustingly out of control. I did try that strategy for a day or two, but within about fifteen minutes of my first attempt, I was distracted by a magazine article or by a piano piece that was calling my name.
As much as I find absolutely no enjoyment in cleaning my home, I do, indeed, enjoy the results when I discipline myself to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
I love it when my blue bathroom towels are all folded and put away neatly and in order.
I love looking into my bedroom and seeing a bed that is made with precision—with no wrinkles to be found!
And oh, the rapture that fills my messy soul when my kitchen floor is swept and there are no dishes lingering in my sink!
And did I mention that I love the smell of a sparkling-clean bathroom, of freshly washed laundry, and of dusting polish?
Why do I love the results but absolutely hate the process? Why, indeed? It is, quite simply, because of the daily effort and focus required.
Our minds are much like the homes in which we live: we must daily keep up with the process of organizing our mental clutter and cleaning up the cerebral dirt and grime that accumulates in our thought patterns, not to mention scrubbing the dark and dusty corners of our brains; otherwise, spiritual havoc will quickly ensue.
But while the process of sanitizing our brain may be exacting and frustrating, the results will be absolutely fabulous!
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:15–16)
The powerful, heavenly implications of this verse are nothing less than astonishing!
We, as mere mortal, have the miraculous potential to think like God the Father thinks!
When we partner with the Holy Spirit in our mental processing, we are able to understand situations, people, and events just as Jesus does. We have the miraculous ability to receive the wisdom of the ages. As human beings, we have been bequeathed the glorious discernment of the Holy Spirit.
We can have God-sized dreams and divine creativity in our pea- sized brains!
Wow … just wow!
When the channels are open between you and heaven, you are invited to tap into the infinite mental powers of the God who created such glorious demonstrations as diamonds, giraffes, and stars. You have been given the wisdom of the Father who invented the water cycle and electricity. Your creative Partner is a Genius who paints sunsets and renews the seasons every year.
You have the mind of Jesus Christ.
When my husband, Craig, was the youth pastor of a church in the Deep South at the beginning of our ministry together, we became close friends with one of the families who attended that church. The father, Harold, was an engineer and served as a church elder. The mother, Sarah, was a stay-at-home mom. Harold and Sarah’s family was built around Mary, their teenage daughter; Michael, their middle-school-age son; and Ricky, their ten-year-old son.
When their son Ricky was in the fourth grade, Harold and Sarah were called in for a conference with his teacher. The teacher made them feel comfortable but wasted little time with small talk. She quickly let them know that Ricky was not doing well in school. Furthermore, she informed the shocked parents that Ricky was showing symptoms of some serious learning disabilities and that he likely would never graduate from high school. The compassionate yet truthful teacher had great concerns about Ricky’s future ability to succeed in middle school and suggested that they look into a special school for their delightful, lively child.
As Harold and Sarah processed this diagnosis, they decided that, to succeed in his studies, what Ricky needed was the mind of Christ. So Ricky and his determined mother began to memorize Scripture together. Sarah placed Scripture verses on every kitchen cabinet and on the bathroom mirror in their home. While Ricky was eating breakfast, he was looking around at the Word of God. While Ricky was facing the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth, he saw only Bible verses.
Sarah was so focused on helping her son to be able to process information in a normal way that she even climbed up a ladder and attached Bible verses to the ceiling over Ricky’s bed so that, every night before he fell asleep, he would see the Word of God, and every morning, when this little man woke up, his very first sight would be the truth of God’s Word.
When Ricky entered fifth grade, his parents began to see a miracle in the making. His grades slowly began to improve, and he was able to pay attention in class, in spite of the usual distractions. Ricky began to repeat at the kitchen table what he had learned in class, and he developed a voracious appetite for learning. His improvement continued, and he eventually graduated in the top ten of his high school graduating class of nearly five hundred students! He later graduated magna cum laude from a private university and earned his MBA from one of the most prestigious universities in the nation.
Today, Ricky is the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, all because he had parents who believed in the importance of tapping into the mind of Christ.
My blog this week is taken from my new book, “Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart and Grace Your Tongue”. Released on April 3, this book will change the way you think, it will revolutionize your emotional responses to life and it will make your tongue the loveliest part of you! You can purchase it at Barnes and Noble.com, CBD.com, Amazon.com or at our website, justjoyministries.com. Why not buy a copy for you and for a friend?!