June 25, 2018
The mind governed by
the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6
Pursuing what God
desires frees our mind, while pursuing what the body desires enslaves it.
Probably the most common response to a failure (from
ourselves or others), is the question: “What were you thinking?” I’ve heard it all too often, and said it to
myself hundreds of times.
One of those times was back in 5th grade, when my
mom signed us boys up for a new sports league happening in our town called soccer.
(Yes, I know it has been around for centuries, but our town never seemed
to know about it before the 70s.) I had
a lot to learn that first year, but found myself playing goalie, fullback, and
midfield because of my height and strong leg.
It was INCREDIBLE! I enjoyed it
far more than football, and picked up the game quickly. Our coach had a basic rule for us on
defense: kick that ball out of our
zone! Don’t worry about passing or
dribbling, just kick it out of there.
Later in the season, we were tied with the number one team
in the league, and playing well in the second half. Their best guy was attacking from the right
wing, and as center fullback I came up to challenge him. Somehow, I was able to steal the ball from
him, and felt the best plan would be to kick it back toward my goalie, so he
could boot it out of our side. Well you
can see where this is going … instead of listening to the single instruction, I
kicked it back toward our goalie, who was not in position to receive it, and
the ball went into the net. We lost that
game because of that one mistake! And
that ended our chance of winning the league.
My coach was quite patient with me … for about 30
seconds. He made a substitution, and got
down to my level, and said: What were you thinking? I sheepishly tried to explain what I was
doing, and he listened, then coached me well on WHY you don’t ever kick the
ball toward your goal. (At least not at
that level of soccer anyways.) That was
one of many times I discovered that justifying my own thinking can turn out
shortsighted, and wrong. Better to
listen to a coach!
Paul writes to the Roman Church that our minds can convince
us of many wrong things – all of which can lead to big losses. Instead of trying to reason for ourselves
what to do, we should listen to the Coach (the Holy Spirit), who has a far
better perspective on things. His
instructions are for our good, and for the good of the team, and by following
them it leads to great wins!
Be careful how much you trust your own reasons for things,
especially when they go against your coach, or your authority, or especially
God’s Spirit. There’s a good chance they
know better than you what is best for the team, and how to avoid painful
mistakes. Better that you were acting on
obedience than making your own decision and hearing: What were you thinking!?!?
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