Mind Games
Why do we say we do not like something without ever trying it? Why do we construct a picture of the perfect spouse before we ever see them? Why do we keep repeating the same patterns through life? The reason is that we have settled in our minds what we want or what we will see as good and worthy. We then automatically exclude all else as bad.
I am sure that at some level it is so that we can make sense of a complex world. Yet, at another level it is used to prove that we are better than another, or worse that they can never be redeemed. We can also let our mind tell us that we will never measure up or be good enough thereby living in defeat the rest of our lives.
So what must we do to win the war raging in our minds? What must we do to find something positive in all the things that together make up life?
The story of the Prodigal Son is a parable about a son that wanted his inheritance early and then wasted it. After getting some sense in his head he went back home – to work as an employee rather than to get more inheritance. Let’s listen in to the dialogue between the older son and both of these boy’s father:
“But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
“'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
Look at the attitude the older son has. He gets angry and disrespectful to his father and brother because of something that should be joyful. He get s angry because is father did not just give him something – because he wanted special treatment. He would not ask, as his younger brother did for his inheritance, so he did not even get a goat for a party. He blames someone for his lack of appropriate and respectful dialogue. He allowed a sense of entitlement enter his mind and thus began a spiritual war that divided him from everyone – including the one that paid his bills and placed food on his table. The father here did nothing wrong, and the one who did the most wrong was not the one who
The story reveals what happens when we let ideas and thoughts be planted and grow in our minds that have no place there. This week, fight against ideas and thoughts that cut toward another person and open your minds to thoughts and feelings that welcome each person with their potential in.
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
I am sure that at some level it is so that we can make sense of a complex world. Yet, at another level it is used to prove that we are better than another, or worse that they can never be redeemed. We can also let our mind tell us that we will never measure up or be good enough thereby living in defeat the rest of our lives.
So what must we do to win the war raging in our minds? What must we do to find something positive in all the things that together make up life?
The story of the Prodigal Son is a parable about a son that wanted his inheritance early and then wasted it. After getting some sense in his head he went back home – to work as an employee rather than to get more inheritance. Let’s listen in to the dialogue between the older son and both of these boy’s father:
“But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
“'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
Look at the attitude the older son has. He gets angry and disrespectful to his father and brother because of something that should be joyful. He get s angry because is father did not just give him something – because he wanted special treatment. He would not ask, as his younger brother did for his inheritance, so he did not even get a goat for a party. He blames someone for his lack of appropriate and respectful dialogue. He allowed a sense of entitlement enter his mind and thus began a spiritual war that divided him from everyone – including the one that paid his bills and placed food on his table. The father here did nothing wrong, and the one who did the most wrong was not the one who
The story reveals what happens when we let ideas and thoughts be planted and grow in our minds that have no place there. This week, fight against ideas and thoughts that cut toward another person and open your minds to thoughts and feelings that welcome each person with their potential in.
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
posted by Covenant of the Cross at
7:41 PM
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