Mind Over What Matters
Two attitudes wrestle for mastery in every event of life. One will prevail and that will be your mental attitude and action.
One response to the events of life is thanksgiving. It will prevail if we consider events in accord with the ancient Anglo-Saxon spelling: “thinksgiving.” If we consider them with the mind of Christ we can see the good in even the worst. The Greek word for think carries the idea of reasoning through a matter logically and carefully.
The British author George MacDonald wrote:
This is a sane, wholesome, practical, working faith: first, that it is a man’s business to do the will of God; second, that God takes on Himself the special care of that man; third, therefore, that man ought never to be afraid of anything.
Thanksgiving is a reaction of joy. A thankful heart will enable the lips of laughter to overflow again.
A mind fixed on Christ is stable and secure. A divided mind is the breeding ground for the other potential response, anxiety. Anxiety, that is, worry, makes the heart nervous and even neurotic. It eats the soul out of one’s personality and makes that person a torture to self and a torment to others.
When we fail to reason from a biblical, Christ-like attitude, anxiety is inevitable. To drown out anxiety, flood your mind with Bible concepts. Therefore, memorize Scripture. Start by memorizing a new text every other day. In one month you will have memorized fifteen texts. I recite myself to sleep by recalling them. If you do, you will fall asleep before recalling all of them.
The same event met with thanksgiving can be met with anxiety. A bee finds nectar in the same flower from which a spider gains its substance for poison. It is a matter of the will. You chose. The person who prays about everything worries about nothing. A word of thanksgiving or a song of praise can unlock the prison of anxiety.
Goth, the 18th century German writer, beautifully describes two mutually exclusive responses:
“We always hope; and
in all things it is
better to hope
than to despair.
When we return to
really trust in God,
there will no
longer be room
in our soul for fear.”