Filling your mind

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." ~ Matthew 6:21

If you have not yet noticed I like to read. This was cultivated in my youth by my parents who bought my older sister and I those great literary classics written by Dr. Seuss also know as Theodor Geisel. My interest in reading continued on into my school years and in high school I enjoyed taking literature classes and it opened up a new world to me. In college I was an English minor, something that probably surprises my readers based on my attempts to slaughter grammar and punctuation; like I said I like to READ. I loved reading the works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Poe and enjoyed all of my literature courses.

For most of my adult life I have had jobs that have required me to travel extensively and because of that you spend a great deal of time in planes, trains and hotel rooms. I would always carry books with me to pass the time and break the monotony. But my books of choice were typically what was on the NY Times best seller list, classics, biographies, history, mysteries and works of fiction by Crichton, Grisham, le Carré and Clancy. There is nothing really wrong with any of these authors and the content was typically tame. But I would read all of this and my Bible would gather dust on the shelf. I was not interested in picking up a missionary biography or any books dealing with living a life of faith in Jesus Christ.

It wasn't until I was close to turning 40 that I came to the realization that I could find time to do anything and everything I wanted to do, but when it came to filling my mind with what is pure, good and right,(Philippians 4:8), I was a big fat zero. It is a sobering thought to realize that one day we will have to stand before the Lord and give an account for how we spent our lives and to recognize that while what I was filling my mind with was not inherently bad, it was not doing much if anything to help me grow in my knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ.

I have discovered some great Christian authors; both past and present that have opened up a new literary world for me. I tend to quote many of them on my social networking page including C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer and Oswald Chambers. This year I am reading Chambers daily devotional classic titled "My Utmost for His Highest" and it has been a real blessing but also a rebuke. I cannot improve or paraphrase his March 8th entry and give it justice so I decided to post it.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." ~ Galatians 2:20

"To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And He gives us in exchange for our sin real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of being worthy of God's consideration."

"Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?"

We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them."

"If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you."

Fill your mind with God's Word and discover author's that have a high view of God and the work of the Gospel. You will find them a source of encouragement, assurance and peace; and you just might find yourself slowly growing and changing day by day into the person God wants you to be.