It’s that time of year again when leaves begin to fall to the ground, blow all over everything, and stick fifteen feet deep in my yard. The last person to help me with them retired from any physical labor. It is a daunting task when you have sixty-foot oaks, magnolia, and pecan trees and it’s incredibly frustrating when you have forty large piles ready for loading and the wind kicks up, moving the leaves back to being all over the place. This image that comes to mind when I think of how often people change their thinking due to any “wind of information.”
Ephesians 4:10–16
[10] He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) [11] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
In this text, we see this point. The Apostle James also suggests something similar in regard to being tossed about by waves of the sea. This image illustrates the helplessness and honestly, the worthlessness of such an object. Paul even equates the picture with infancy which should further warrant our attention. Just as an infant cannot choose to think or move but must be picked up and placed where an adult wants them to be, a person whose mind is easily troubled and moved is enslaved to other people’s ideas.
People do not know how to read the Bible and typically absorb it as a long list of talking points or to-do lists, and this Christians are an able able to apply the bible which makes the issue of being tossed about even more prevalent. I’ve been thinking over the last few days, which is why I haven’t written, about how this plays out in my own mind and those around me.
It is important to understand that while the instruction is given in the Bible to not be tossed by every wind of doctrine, Paul is not only talking about theological things. The word doctrine means teaching or instruction that comes through many means and forms. The Bible instructs believers to engage the mind continually. Repeatedly, we read the instruction to change our thinking (repent) and reestablish our thinking (renew). Right thinking is a primary discipline of being a healthy Christian which includes making sure that our minds are on task and remain there.
What we think about determines our mood and our focus. These things create the emotions that emulate our learned behaviors. For example, when a kid is selfish and becomes angry, it will most likely act in a manner similar to what it has seen in the home. This is a general rule but has merit when relating to emotions. Sometimes we teach ourselves how to act to get what we want. Like the kid who learns he can scream and throw a tantrum at the checkout and get candy. Or the kid that learns to be quiet when yelled at will develop a withdrawn or passive-aggressive behavior system. The Bible speaks to these things, beloved. Just read the New Testament letters and see how often we are told to let our minds be pure so that our actions would follow.
As an advocate, I have a very difficult time ever having anger toward other people. When I do, it is very short-lived. That is unless I permit my thoughts to center on my feelings, then anger can arise. For the most part, I spend every thought concerning other people in an attempt to reconcile their mindset or perception. I have internal conversations with others playing out how to get them to think and perceive things. This is one reason why rejection or slander is so devastating to people with my temperament. We truly cannot understand why anyone would ever act against another human being if it would do damage. This way of thinking drowns every aspect of my perception of the world. Even when people rob me, and take advantage of me, I tend to consider either what I could have done differently or how I can help them. If I’m not cautious, this can be emotionally and physically crippling.
So, thinking is vital. Just in my own simple example, if my thoughts are not in check, my life is over.
I have a very long list of ways this happens, but here are a few of them.
Rooted Belief Systems – These are things we are taught in our childhood, sometimes indirectly through observation. Racism, misogyny, and other variants of biases come from these beliefs. Nationalism and our political slants can be found here also. When I was a young boy I overheard a family member discussing a community member.
“I don’t trust him, anyone with a beard that big seems to be hiding something.” I don’t even know what it was about and gave it no thought. However, I refused to grow a beard until my 30s, and only when I was asked why I kept clean-shaven did I realize I had an aversion to beards because I didn’t want to be seen as sketchy. So, I’ve had a beard, per se, since May of 2011.
Not all of our deep beliefs are bad, but they can all produce wrong mindsets and attitudes. We have to make sure we are guarding our long-held beliefs against cultural norms being lauded as Biblical norms. I could write a series on these issues. We have to be careful that the implications of these beliefs are not causing us to be tossed into chaos and affect how we are to love others.
Word On The Street – This speaks for itself, pun intended. Long before social media was the party line and before that was the barber and beauty salon. When we first moved back to Georgia I spent my mornings at the local cafe. After a few months, I begin to hear things about myself that I didn’t know. One morning I walked over to a large table where the old men sat and pulled up a chair. Strangely they looked at me and I said, “Morning gentlemen, I needed to come to sit with you all so I could learn about what I am doing these days.” They all laughed, and I’m friends with most of them to this day.
We give a lot of mental real estate to what we hear others say. Sadly, when we make judgments about others with this information we have listed to the enemy and done evil in our hearts. Just like looking lustfully at someone, thinking negatively of someone is a sin. And I encourage you to read Ephesians, Colossians, 1 John, and Romans as a whole and see if you agree. Don’t take my word for it. Let God the Spirit bind your conscience and test me by the whole counsel of God, not on what you hear. (ahem)
This information is learning. It is doctrine. When we get an email, a text, read another person’s private discussions, fuss on social media, or someone reaches out to ask if we had heard, we are being taught. This is doctrine. This is information. And when it changes our minds, we are being tossed about like a leaf. When we change our love and respect for someone based on what someone else says, we are being moved by the flesh, not by the Spirit.
Conspiracies and Talking Points – The meme culture is more than just fun stuff. Throughout history, we see propaganda posters and leaflets. Now, it’s just online and digital versions of these. I have received over fifty propaganda posters in my mailbox being delivered by my tax dollars in the last few months. If I were to believe and agree with these things I would not vote, because each article has been about how bad someone else was. If then I disavow the evil printed against someone I like, then I am biased and enslaved to the wind and waves of other people’s agenda. Sadly, many are, and worse, they think they are free thinkers. This is akin to the deception that God allows in 2 Thessalonians. Beloved, the lie is not just about theological things.
These doctrines are not just about politics, but also involve medicine, science, news, economics, and matters of liberty and education. Some people I know receive tens of thousands of government aid for their businesses but have disdain in their hearts for the person working 80 hours per week barely eating or feeding their children. Christians should never have this type of attitude. This is being tossed about. Changed by what we hear and see without filtering it first through the gospel of mercy and then through the heart of Christ.
Education: Formal or Otherwise – As you see, we are learning all the time. Doctrine is always around us. Are we listening and paying attention or are we ignoring the fact that we are being led astray? We learn all the time in many ways. Take a second to consider that we are learning from our own thinking that is groomed and instructed by everything we encounter: movies, books, music, poems, news, kids, commercials, road signs, friends, and everything else. Do we really think that we are not being led astray? Well, if our actions are disconnected from what as believers we know to be our bedrock, then yet.
That bedrock is that we are patient and gentle, not listening to trash, evil, theories, fears, emotions, and society, because we have the mind of Christ. We are to not be cult-like driven to despair and isolated due to our inability to think rightly. Many times professing believers will be known, not for their loving joy and rest, but for their worries, fears, dislikes, discoveries, and everything else that they are not going to believe or accept. Even so, this means that many have cut off the very precious gifts through which God’s promises will come. Read Ephesians 4 above one more time.
Be at rest. Rejoice and relate to the world through the mind of Christ. Learn to accept the means of God’s promises in the letters written for our good and embrace those who feed and love you. Gently evaluate every relationship, pray for each one, and invest in the ones that are Christ-centered in all things, not just theology, not just service, not just your way, but in the center of what is taught to us by His word.
I’d love your thoughts.
Pastor, often, especially at this moment, as I read these writings, I want to tell you my thoughts, but I seemingly cannot formulate them into a concise commentary. The wisdom you’ve expressed here resonates in my mind and heart. Yet, I have nothing to say, no addition to your points. My mind and spirit look to Christ, and I bow my head in my hands.
I will try to explain. Your writing explains my thoughts in such a way that it brings understanding to why I think them, and more than that, it shows me how to look to Christ and seek his thoughts.
Somehow, I relate to the observations you make. Our Lord is teaching me to reevaluate my thoughts (how I think). He makes me aware of fears that come from my childhood and have played out in my relationships over the years. I see myself sugar-coating my rearing by sharing only loving, faithful parts with others. My parents unknowingly passed their wounded perceptions, along with the wisdom obtained from their history to me. We need to be enlightened about our dysfunction to correct it. As teachers, we understand that we learn from everything around us and everything we experience.
Pastor, your writing brings light to areas in our thoughts and attitudes that we have misunderstood to be right or good. But, again, it is to look to the scripture for the revelation of Christ and His instruction. May we rest in His mind and for our learning. (Head in hands)