Right Thinking

I wrote an article as an editorial for the magazine called Faith Ventures. It's 550 words. I hope that isn't too long and boring for you. I recognize that people are more interested in what's happening in a person's daily life. Well, amidst the turmoil of running an institution I sometimes find time to write editorials. Enjoy.

Right Thinking

Few of us realizee the influence we have on ourselves. E.G.White writes, "If the thoughts are wrong," (about ourselves) "the feelings will be wrong, and thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character." )i.e. They determine our destiny... Serious! 5T 310:1.

Have you ever made a mistake then thought, "I am so stupid. I swear, I can't do a thing right." We may feel like that sometimes; but think, is doing nothing right even remotely possible? Do you think the God you know would say that about you? Does He think you are a hopeless case, or incorrigible? No, He declares that you are accepted in the Beloved, complete in Christ, forgiven, loved, and talented.

That's God's reality for us, but how many people know that? Dr. Nedley tells of a politician who came to him for help. The depressed man believed himself a complete failure because he had lost a race for political office. I admit, losing is depressing, but does one lost race amount to total failure? Did he lose all, or even any, of his intrinsic value because of it? Thinking that way would be funny if it wasn't so sad and so prevalent.

Talking about sad: In Genesis, chapter 28, we find the patriarch Jacob cast out and forlorn. He had conspired with his mother to cheat his brother. He had lied to his father and stolen his brother's birthright and blessing. Now, we find him running for his life, alone and discouraged.

"He feared," according to PP 183, "that he had lost forever the blessing that God had purposed to give... He felt that he was an outcast, and he knew that all his troubles had been brought upon him by his own wrong course. The darkness of despair rested upon his soul... he was utterly lonely... [and] he had lost all confidence in himself." (I wonder what he had to say to himself about himself then?)

If unarrested, what would thoughts and feelings like these combine to produce? What kind of character? What kind of behavior? Despair never builds a person up. If it doesn't drive him to Christ, it will lead him to self-destruct. But God, even knowing the full extent of Jacob's guilt, didn't leave him to himself. He opened his eyes to see Jesus, the Ladder, upon which angels ascend and descend. Then He said, "I am with you, and will keep you... and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you." Genesis 28:15

Why did God go out of His way to help that lying cheat? Because He cared for Jacob. He cares as much for you and me today. His connectiv Ladder still reaches from heaven to earth. Mercy and forgiveness remains a standing offer. Is it not then safer -- edifying even -- to believe what God says about us, rather than to believe what we say to ourselves about ourselves?

It isn't only safer to do so, it's imperative. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32. Imagine the freedom of really believing we are loved, forgiven, and accepted by God. Besides, which is truer, what God says about us, or what we say about ourselves? Careful now, expression deepens impressions.