October 22, 2012

Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus

I’ve had a cold the last few days and the way it affected me you’d have thought it was terminal cancer. I guess it is a product of aging. I can remember when a cold was just an inconvenience, and little more. Now it is accompanied by aches and pains and discomforts. The worst aspect however was an inability to concentrate, to focus in a normal manner. My brain just felt fuzzy much of the time. It made me realize how much energy thinking requires. We all get into a groove with the way our mind operates and, unless it is affected by some outside stimulus, our thoughts often flow along like water in a trough, sliding effortlessly. But when a cold or heartache or another person affects that flow we can realize just how much we have been gliding along. To have the same mindset as Christ Jesus is to challenge the status quo of the way we think and that is hard work. To carve out daily space for devotions, or quiet time, or the daily office, whatever your tradition calls a personal time to focus on Christ, is hard enough in itself. To let what goes on in those moments alter the way you think and the way you go about life verges on the miraculous. Yet we believe in a God of miracles. Take time this week to work on that discipline in your life that places you consciously in front of God and let those moments challenge the way you think about life and how it should be lived. And drink lots of orange juice- you don’t want this cold!