At first glance, the title seems like a paradox. How does one’s heart think? Isn’t it the mind that thinks? Thoughts are very complex things. I find comfort in knowing that only God knows all my thoughts. Sometimes that scares the sock crud out of my belly button. okay thats not true, but it was a fitting analogy, i guess.
I love jazz music. maybe it’s the melodic rhythms. or the screaming-for-attention saxaphone. so smooth, like pavement after a freeze. or maybe it’s just how the ending always finishes with, not a bang, but a whimper…it fades quietly. That’s depressing if you dwell on it, maybe. Or the most beautiful thing in all the world. And whatever is beautiful is worth thinking about.
Sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons Jesus asks so many questions is because of what questions do to us. They leave us thinking. They make us realize that there is always something fresh to be learned. It’s funny how children ask so many questions, and adults think they don’t have to ask questions because they know everything…all the “facts.” If life is just about absorbing a bunch of facts, I want no part of it. Maybe that’s why Scripture tells us to be like children. What are children? First of all, they are defenseless and needy. As an extension of that, they ask questions. I get sad when I see how many people are content with living for “the next thing,” whatever that may be. how sad an existence. Maybe we buy so many things because we don’t like to spend time building things.
I had the thought of a conversation that goes something like this…
“Do you believe in God?”….”How can I when there’s no visible evidence?”…”Do you have thoughts?”…”Yes, what’s your point.”…”Well I can’t prove you have thoughts, but you tell me they’re there. And it’s the same way with God, His law is written on our hearts, all creation reveals His glory, and He’s left plenty of other evidences too. Don’t you think it’s more viable for me to believe in the veracity of God than your thoughts?”…”Perhaps, but I have personal testimony, God doesn’t have that.”…”Didn’t Jesus say that the Father testifies for Him? And weren’t there over 500 witnesses who Paul said testified to the resurrection?”
I sometimes see life as a highwire act. It requires just the precise amount of balance, or you fall hard to certain doom. A hero’s demise is often hubris. It is good to take time and walk to a well for water, rather than always buying bottled water. Most learn this the pain-staking way.
I wonder how many people actually really love other people. I mean, like really genuinely care and wouldn’t mind sitting there letting them tell them just everything about their lives. But is it curious to think about how many people values others for their being useful, but then others for just knowing them? I guess sinful humans, by nature, are reductionistic. We want to know everything about God. Anything that we can’t totally grasp and have control of, or is unknowable…that scares us.
Being a Christian is like owning a flashlight. Say that you were going into a cave full of darkness. Your buddy next to you can’t find his way around, and you have a flashlight, but you won’t tell him about it. How foolish does that sound? Why don’t you turn on the light so that he can understand how to see in the darkness? It is futile for us to make excuses on why not to tell others in the darkness about the light. How much do you really have to hate someone not to tell them about the light?
Christians without the Spirit filled life are like weather vanes without the wind, idly sitting by squandering their very purpose. What a bad trade!
I read The Little Prince tonight. It is a children’s book 113 pages with pictures. Everyone loves pictures! But it’s not your atypical “Goodnight Moon” children’s book. This one can leave you with thoughts to chew on for millions of iotas.
“What is essential is invisible to the eye.” The Little Prince
All roads go somewhere. Truly, life isn’t about quantity so much as quantity. By the way, when Jesus says “truly, truly”, it means “amen, amen.” Every word He spoke was with authority.
We are excellent judges of others, but how about of ourselves? Oh if egocentrism would perish…but alas, one glorious day!
As Christians, we are like beggars, telling other beggars where to find food. Paul Copan used that analogy last week at the Apologetics Conference I attended.
If every moment was a peaceful moment, I’d have a lot of peas…
Sometimes, if you feel like you have enough past baggage to leave you at the baggage claim all day, its best to just trust God that he’ll get you new luggage and go out into the city!
You may be satisfied with how you live now, but will it satisfy you in death? Eternity is a heavy thing to dwell upon.
Psalm 73:25-28
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD (lower level ‘ORD’) my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
Yours truly, stirring the pot one day at a time,
Pinkman
