Therefore, prepare your minds for action… (1 Peter 1:13a, NIV)
If you care about golf, you think about golf.
When I talk to players about nuances in their swing, I may say to them, “So when you’re doing your mirror work, this is what you do.” Then I show them a move.
Now, here’s the thing. Any uninitiated person might ask, “Mirror work?” Not golfers. They get it right away. Mirror work is what you do at home, alone in the bathroom or closet, trying to see what you can’t otherwise look at on the practice range or golf course. There is instant recognition, because golfers think about their golf.
But golfers don’t think aimlessly. They think about golf for a reason: they play golf. And they want what they are thinking to be turned into action when it comes time to tour the course, clubs in hand, balls flying. Good thinking, they hope, will bring good results.
How about in our walk with Jesus? First we must ask whether we are thinking about that walk at all. Thinking about Jesus and our life with him really is the essence of meditation, where we consider deeply the truths of the word of God and the wonder of his person. Christward living begins with Christward thinking.
It is commonly argued in our time, however, that one’s theology (or “faith”) is a personal matter, best left unsaid and—apparently—unlived.
The Bible offers no such option.
In Peter’s letter to “God’s elect” scattered around the world, he made clear the purpose of thinking well; it is preparation for action. In fact, some translations offer a picture from battle, rendering the verse this way: “Gird up the loins of your mind” (NKJV). We think because we are about to do.
Faith may begin in the vacuum of one’s mind, but true faith cannot be contained there. In fact, those who suggest that faith in Jesus can be lived unto oneself don’t recognize what they are asking. This would be a faith where his instructions—love your neighbor as yourself; bless those who persecute you; let tomorrow worry about itself; feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend to the ill, visit the imprisoned; deliver his grace to the downtrodden—would go unheeded and his love undelivered. No, we learn his words, think on his words, and plan from his words for one reason: that we may act on his words, for the sake of his name and those who need to hear it.
—
Jeff Hopper
February 29, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
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