It was a quiet afternoon when I sat poring over creeds and confessions. Water was running through our wet-weather creek and as I peered through the glass, snowflakes began to fall. I was captivated by nature’s beauty and as always, my observance of creation caused me to ponder the Creator. Stillness in the wondrous works of God brought rest to my soul on that cold winter’s day. Stillness is not dependent on the weather but on our state of thought. We live our theology as we engage with Christian faith and life.
"And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." - Colossians 1:17
Your thought life affects your feelings, your actions and reactions.
Unlike my peace-filled afternoon, this world is loud and chaotic. Its message is filled with sin, suffering, and confusion. None of us is free from the effects. But I learned some time ago that a state of stillness requires we take our eyes off of ourselves, our circumstances, and onto God. When we ignore God’s truth and believe Satan’s lies about who God is and who God designed us to be, we fall into wrong thinking. We can falsely conclude that our circumstances are unique (1 Corinthians 10:13) and that God cannot help us deal with our difficulties. Authentic faith planted in sound theology makes all the difference when no one is watching. Truth destroys Satan’s power in our lives.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Your thought life must begin and end with a foundation of truth.
In the midst of the chaos, we must choose to think biblically as Paul reminds us (Philippians 4:8). We need to replace false, noisy thinking with truth from God’s Word. Only by embracing the truth of Scripture can we break free from ungodly thinking patterns. No thought is hidden from God.
"You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them." - Psalm 139:2
Consider, is your God too small?
Christians are not exempt from unsettling experiences and yet, our thought life reflects who we are (Prov. 23:7). If we aren’t careful, even believers can perceive a God who is small – a God we can manage, predict, and control. But this is simply not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is the opposite of small and manageable. He is big. The Scriptures assure me that I worship a God who is bigger than life itself: infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immutable. And at the very heart of my thoughts, there’s one thing I know for sure – God is sovereign and I trust Him. God sees. God knows. God has a plan.
If you find yourself going through a rough time today, pray. Ask God to help you. Trust that He is abundantly able to meet you in your circumstances. Read about his attributes and learn more about who he is. He might not take you out of the situation, but he offers His peace (Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 41:10). You can rest in the stillness of his character.
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:14-20
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