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Fixed Thoughts

Fixing our attention on something does not just mean to focus our eyes or thoughts. At work I fix computers for a living, and sometimes the only way to fix something is to take out the bad part and replace it with a good part. The new part takes the same place as the old, but functions as it should. It is not corroded, corrupted, damaged or burned out.

I am trying to tackle my thought life in a similar way. I want to fix my thoughts before they manifest in word or deed. There are some seriously damaged thoughts running around my head. Some thoughts entice me to be annoyed with people, to think lowly of people, to foster pride, greed and self-pity. Some thoughts are slippery and fearful, convincing me I am not good enough to achieve my goals in life. Other thoughts whisper to me that I am unworthy of love.

All of these need to be fixed. Replaced. When a true, properly working thought is put in the place of a broken one, controlling my tongue and actions is much easier. The challenge lies in whether we replace our broken thoughts with truth or with lies.

“…we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”
2 Corinthians 10:5

2

Simple Purity

Lately I’ve been thinking about what purity really is and what it takes to get it. We Christians claim to desire and strive for purity––we pray to be purified by the Lord, we wash ourselves in the Word, we talk about being “unspotted by the world” and letting our lights shine (James 1:27). We use cliché phrases and buzz words in prayers and conversations, often without realizing it. But what are we are really praying for? Shelter, protection, isolation? Internal strength and radiance, perhaps the ability to say no?

Purity: freedom from adulteration or contamination; freedom from immorality.

Purity isn’t just freedom from “the big sins,” it is freedom from all contamination––any artifact or constituent that impairs the purity of a substance. These contaminations, big or small, are foreign objects that pollute the true nature of the element. Impurity is any worthless or dangerous material that should be removed.

Worthless: having no real value or use, having no good qualities; deserving contempt.

Dangerous: likely to cause harm, injury, problems or difficulty; addictive or otherwise harmful or illegal, risky.

Consider the activities of daily life: purchases, entertainment choices, conversations, meals, commute times, thoughts and decisions. Choosing to avoid or eliminate the worthless and dangerous activities is exactly what Phillipians 4:8 encourages us to do. “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy––meditate on these things.” Worthwhile things are generally not temporal and quickly fading, they are eternal––not confined to this life we see.

It can be quite refreshing to stop yourself at every decision point of an average day and ask, “is this worthless or dangerous?” Life becomes clear and simple. That TV show I was going to watch? Worthless, turn it off. That song I downloaded a few years ago? Dangerous lyrics, trash it. That juicy gossip I was about to divulge? Dangerous and worthless, keep quiet. Dwelling on fears about money, health or career? Extremely dangerous, meditate on the promises of God instead.

I’m challenging myself this year to stop wasting time and energy on worthless and dangerous things. Everything I do in life will either build up my character or weaken it. Life may seem gray at times but it’s not. My decisions will either strengthen my  conscience or feed temptation. I’m not going to be ignorant of the enemy’s schemes. I will make worthwhile choices, one at a time.

The glorious result of this purification process is that I will become more like Jesus. By His wisdom I will recognize the right choice and by His strength I will carry it out. The beautiful part is, the more I depend on Him, the more I become like Him. And being like Him is the definition of purity.

2

Where’s The Music?!

I’m a songwriter.

I feel blessed with the gifts of melody, lyric and harmony, but it’s an excruciating process to write songs. Sometimes they fall into your lap…except for the bridge. Or the last line of the second verse. And you have a great song, except for that one piece. And you can’t just wing it or half-heartedly write something in there to finish it, you have to wait.
And wait. And tirelessly wait. Until the perfect phrase or melody suddenly comes out.
It might be the next day, it might be the next year. You never know.

In the meantime, I start writing other songs. Some of them finish easily, others don’t. Then you let them sit, listen to them again and realize they are trite or cheesy, you’re discouraged and you don’t want to write anything else, ever again.

But you’re a songwriter, so you have to write. It’s like breathing or crying. Eventually, your body and soul just need it and you find yourself at the piano again, crushing out some emotion or another on the keys. And so the songs continue to get written.

A lot of people have been asking me if I’m still working on music, still writing. And the answer is a resounding yes. I can’t stop and I won’t stop. In fact, there are a lot of good songs in the works, and a lot of collaborations involved. The music will be worth the wait! I have been really fortunate to spend time working on a few tracks with some amazing producers and can’t wait for everyone to hear them!

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Resolutions

Not once have I made a New Years’ resolution. The doom and anxiety that hangs above other well-meaning Resolution-Makers’ heads does not cloud my horizon. Nay, indeed. I don’t worry about slipping up or wonder “how long I’ll last this year.” I stay far, far away from New Years’ resolutions. I understand their appeal to the masses. A New Year is a convenient time to suddenly try and change things you don’t like about yourself. It’s a time for new beginnings, new hope, new goals. A fresh perspective.

But I find New Years’ resolutions depressing. The thought of getting only one chance per year to make big life changes or improvements puts a damper on the rest of the year. I’d rather not start out my year by dreading the rest of it, knowing I probably won’t set any other new resolutions in motion until that ball drops next year. Or at least, I won’t take those resolutions seriously until next January first.

Which brings me to my point: New Years’ resolutions are for procrastinators. For the lazy, uncoordinated, unmotivated common folk who have hearts full of good intentions, and hands full of excuses. Resolutions are a public flag of failure and defeat, proclaiming “I am a failure in a certain area.”

It’s natural to respond to such failures by making drastic promises to yourself to avoid such failure in the new year. But we often set our goals unreachably high, fail again, and get stuck in a cycle of resolutions that never resolve.

We all want to change things about ourselves and such growth and progress is wonderful. Making drastic changes on January first that shock our routine-loving bodies and leave little chance for success is not wonderful. Lasting change takes baby steps!

Therefore, I like to see every Monday as resolution day. Every top of the hour is resolution hour. Every minute can be the one where I suddenly start turning right instead of left. Every precious moment is an excellent time to choose good over evil, health over sickness, action over immobilization. I don’t need to wait for a new year to implement real improvement.

Procrastination comes naturally to most of us. It’s easy to wait for a new year or a monumental occasion to swing around and use that as an excuse to make changes. But procrastinating is silly when you think about it.

What are we really waiting for?

1

Reading Rant

For hours I sat reading. Curled on my dilapidated easy-chair, its fuzzy-worn, black and gold fabric cushioning my legs. My windows were open and a cool breeze slid through the room. Children were shouting outside in the fading sunshine. I was in another world, watching a movie unfold before me that would pause when I glanced away from the page. No commercial interruptions, no credits, no soundtrack. Just my imagination exercising.

Most of us have the dormant knowledge that our culture is over saturated with noise. Video, audio, internet, advertisements, distractions, multi-media, so forth. And most of us think we have grown quite good at blocking out the bulk of it. But perhaps our quest for quieter minds has inadvertently dulled our senses.

A few days ago I started reading The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It’s a short and unromantic story but I found myself thinking about it obsessively whilst away from it. I haven’t felt that kind of rapture over a book in a long time. Lack of rapture is an unfortunate byproduct of reading exclusively informational and educational material on a daily basis. With the obligatory personal email tossed in, of course.

So this brief, odd novel that I started reading on a whim turned out to be engaging and surprisingly thrilling. With the inundation of blogs, twitters and bad websites that we’re surrounded by these days, it’s quite a shock to read something really, really good. I found myself looking up words in the dictionary, getting chills, letting my heart be tugged, and losing track of time.

Oh, the rapture.

And so I plead: Please turn off the tv and read. Turn off the computer and read. Forget about self-help and informational input for a while. Forget about Facebook and stop wondering what your friends are doing. Turn it all off, open a classic novel and get lost in a fictional world. The reward can be overwhelming, if you let it.

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Examples of Grace

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms––all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

How encouraging! No matter how we feel, what we are going through, or how many bad decisions we have made, at all times we are still examples of God’s favor and kindness. We aren’t examples because of how awesome we are or because of the great things we have done for the Lord. We are examples because God showered us with His grace while we were yet dead in our sins. We are living, breathing proof of the mercy of God.

When we accepted Jesus, the Holy Spirit took up residence in our hearts, filling us with his love (Romans 5:5). So now we have the potential to live up to the full stature of Christ, allowing us to become not just examples of his kindness and mercy — but examples of his character in all kinds of ways.

God has been so good to us. No matter what temporal trials we are facing, we have already been saved from death and eternal separation from God through his marvelous grace. His love alone is so great that we will never fully understand it. This is cause for perpetual joy! Who else on earth loves us in such a way? What more could we ask for in this life?
Let’s be ready to share about this wonderful kindness when the spotlight is bright and we are called upon to represent Jesus. Has God been good to you? Yes he has! If we remember that He is pointing to us as examples of His mercy and kindness, we will always be ready to explain our Christian joy. As Peter says, “If you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it” (1 Peter 3:15).

Regardless of how well we think we are doing as Christians, we are examples of God’s grace and mercy. He has illuminated our lives with His love and He will never change. That’s refreshing and encouraging.