Category Archives: Romans

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A Wake-Up Call You Don’t Want To Miss

What If Jesus Returned One Week From Today

UNSHAKEABLE: We are even closer to the day when the Father says, “enough is enough — it is finished!” and sends the Son to restore order to the chaotic mess mankind, in partnership with Satan, has made of what was once God’s garden. That day is closer than ever, my friend, and even though there has been no sign of Christ, the signs of his return are everywhere. So as Paul would say, wake up, and jettison the activities of the night!

A Wake-up Call You Don't Want to Miss

Unshakeable Living // Romans 13:11

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

It has been nearly 2,000 years since Christians first began to look for the second coming of Christ, and still, he has not returned. Sadly, his delay has caused the alertness of far too many believers to dim; perhaps that is the case for you. But as you consider the promise of his return, please don’t confuse his slowness with lateness. You see, God’s timing is still perfect, his plan for the end times is still in effect, and his delay has done absolutely nothing to impugn the truth that we are indeed living in the last days.

In fact, Paul would argue that Christ’s delay can only mean one thing: We are even closer to the day when the Father says, “enough is enough — it is finished!” and sends the Son to restore order to the chaotic mess mankind, in partnership with Satan, has made of what was once God’s garden. That day is closer than ever, my friend, and even though there has been no sign of Christ, the signs of his return are everywhere. So as Paul would say, wake up, and jettison the activities of the night!

What is it, exactly, that people do at night? For one thing, they sleep, Now that is not a bad activity in itself, but in the spiritual dimension, sleeping in the end times is akin to both inactivity in the work of the kingdom as well as inattentiveness to the King’s coming—both serious spiritual faux pas according to Matthew 25.

If you are spiritually inactive or unaware, this is your wake-up call — and it’s the most important one you’ll ever receive!

People also dream at night. Though not all dreaming is bad, dreams can either be fear-producing nightmares that paralyze our spiritual vitality or time-wasting fantasizing that cause us to avoid our spiritual responsibilities. Dreaming in this sense is symbolic of being diverted from the serious-minded, fruit-bearing living to which Christians have been called. Paul teaches in Ephesians 5:15-17 to “be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

If you are spiritually paralyzed by fear or living in a spiritual la-la land, this is your wake-up call — and it’s the most important one you’ll ever receive!

Partying is the other activity some people do at night. Though not all parties are bad, this kind of partying is symbolic of believers who sacrifice their purity for momentary pleasure-fixes. Paul hits this one pretty hard (Rom 13:14) — drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery (a reference to wickedness in general), plus dissension and jealousy (a couple of other expected outcomes when we are under the influence of the night).

If you are sacrificing purity for partying, this is your wake-up call — and it’s the most important one you’ll ever receive!

So what is it, then, that Christians are called to do? First, we must understand the times — “And do this, understanding the present time.” (Rom 13:11) We are to wake up to the evil that is all around us and open our eyes to the nearness of Christ’s return.

Second, we must reject the call of the wild and answer the call to arms — “let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:12) We are to ruthlessly eliminate anything and everything that compromises our moral purity and saps our spiritual power.

And third, we must get ready and stay ready for Jesus’ second coming — “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 13:14) We are to wake up and get dressed for the greatest party of all — the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Our salvation is at hand, and if we’re ready, when it finally happens, we will wake up to a dream come true: The fulfillment of the deepest longings of our heart and the glorious rest that no fleshly sleep can produce.

This is your wake-up call—and it’s the most important one you’ll ever receive!

Get Rooted: Spend some time today analyzing how your life would be different if you knew that Jesus would return seven days from today.

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Love, And Do What You Want

Just Love, And Everything Will Turn Out Fine

UNSHAKEABLE: God’s requirements for us are pretty simple really — just love everybody like we would want to be loved. That means we would love them when they deserved it, and even when they didn’t. We would love them when we felt like it, and even when we didn’t. We would love them not just in word, but we would love them in action. We would love them like they needed to be loved, like God loves them, like the creatures of a Creator who created them inherently worthy of love. If we would just do what God created us to do — love — I have a feeling that 99% of the issues we wrestle with, the relationships we struggle over, and the trouble we find ourselves in would be taken care of. Love — that’s the cure for what ails you!

Love, And Do What You Want

Unshakeable Living // Romans 13:9-10

These — and other such commands—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself. So love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

God’s requirements for us are pretty simple really — just love everybody like we would want to be loved. That means we would love them when they deserved it, and even when they didn’t. We would love them when we felt like it, and even when we didn’t. We would love them not just in word, but we would love them in action. We would love them like they needed to be loved, like God loves them, like the creatures of a Creator who created them inherently worthy of love.

If we would just do what God created us to do — love — I have a feeling that 99% of the issues we wrestle with, the relationships we struggle over, and the trouble we find ourselves in would be taken care of. Love — that’s the cure for what ails you!

So where and how are we supposed to live out this life of love? Paul gives us three relational arenas in Romans 13. The first area has to do with our relationship to the government—what you might call the civil arena (Rom 13:1-7).

Here Paul says God expects us to respect our government and its leaders—admittedly, something that we often find hard to do. We are to observe the laws they establish; view them as God-ordained instruments for order; submit to them not only as an act of civic duty, but as that which is necessary for a clear conscience; pay our taxes; and give them honor and respect. In fact, in 2 Timothy 2:2-3, Paul takes it a step further and says that we are even pray for our governmental leaders,

Pray for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our savior.

When I think of some of the government administrations and leaders that I’ve endured during my lifetime, what Paul is asking seems like a tall order. But keep in mind that Paul wrote to the Roman believers about respecting and obeying government under some pretty awful leaders like Emperor Nero and his evil, profane, murderous ilk. If Paul could see these Roman Emperors as God’s instruments in his life, then I will have no excuse when I stand before God some day for my attitude toward my leaders.

The second area has to do with our relationship with our neighbors — what you might call the social arena (Rom 13:8-10). Here Paul simply calls for loving actions toward those with whom we are in some kind of daily interaction — the people we live by, work with, and sit next to in the pews at church. We should do nothing that would provoke anything other than a loving response from them back toward us.

The third has to do with our relationship to God — what you might call the salvation arena (Rom 13:11-14). Here Paul reminds us that one of the leading motives, if not the only motive, for living a life of love in all the arenas of our life is for the simple reason that Jesus is coming back soon, and we will then have to give an account for how we have behaved in relation to our government and its leaders, our neighbors, and our God. Because of the soon return of Jesus and the revealing of our full and final salvation, we must be continually alert to living in purity and holiness. In short, we are to “clothe ourselves with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 13:14), which is Paul’s way of saying that we ought to live each moment as if it might be the last one before we find ourselves standing before Christ. Love would demand no less in light of what Jesus has done to secure our salvation!

Just love! Do that and you’ll be just fine — in this life and in the one to come. Love God with all your heart, and when you do, you cannot help but love everybody else. Do that and you will fulfill all of God’s requirements.

One month before his death at age sixty-five, C. S. Lewis wrote in a letter addressed to a child, “If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so.”

That is…in fact, the best advice you will ever get!

So here’s a thought for you: If you knew Jesus would come back twenty-four hours from now, and knowing that love is the ultimate requirement of God’s law, who and how would you love?

Why not love like that anyway — you never know, this might be you last opportunity!

Get Rooted: “Love does no wrong to others.” Have you violated this law of love in your relationships? Have you been angry, rude, gossiped, criticized, avoided, ghosted, or even abandoned a relationship recently. If you have, you know what to do!

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Goin’ For Broke

Owe Nothing to No One—Except Your Debt of Love

UNSHAKEABLE: By and large, debt is a crippler, and we ought not to get enslaved to it. In fact, we ought to do everything we can to get out from under it. My advice: Get yourself educated about money management, get ruthlessly disciplined with your finances, develop a strategic plan for debt reduction, and then go after it with reckless abandon. You will never regret debt elimination, but you will always bemoan indebtedness.

Debt is an existential threat to nations, companies, and people — a real and present danger. That is why believers should owe nothing to anyone — except the debt of love! —Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 13:8

Owe nothing to anyone — except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

American history is littered with scores of humorous tombstones, and one of my favorite epitaphs simply reads, “Owen Moore Passed Away — Owin’ More Than He Could Pay.” From the beginning of time right up to the present, the reality of debt aptly describes far too many people in our world, and it is certainly weighing heavily on our collective minds currently as we think of what the burgeoning national debt might to this great country of ours. Debt is a real and present danger!

In the 1950s, Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded a song describing the dark and difficult challenges of the lives of coal miners. “Sixteen Tons” became a number-one hit and its most memorable line was one that people can still relate to:

You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me, ’cause I can’t go;
I owe my soul to the company store.

Maybe that is how you feel — you owe your soul, and everything else, to the “company store”, or whoever it is that holds your debt. Perhaps Owen Moore’s epitaph aptly describes your life right now.

By and large, debt is a crippler, and we ought not to get enslaved to it. In fact, we ought to do everything we can to get out from under it. My advice: Get yourself educated about money management, get ruthlessly disciplined with your finances, develop a strategic plan for debt reduction, and then go after it with reckless abandon. You will never regret debt elimination, but you will always bemoan indebtedness.

Now let’s be very clear about what Paul is saying here, because his words are often used to wrongly hammer anyone who borrows money. So to add balance to the above paragraph, Paul is not prohibiting borrowing, especially since the Bible makes provision for it. Deuteronomy 23:19—20 and 24:10-13, as well as a host of other Scripture, assumes lending and borrowing and provides very clear guidelines for both. What Paul is simply saying is that believers are to pay their financial obligations when they are due — including their taxes (Romans 13:7) as well as payment on their debt. Obviously, other scriptural teachings on finances come into play as to the wisdom and limits of healthy indebtedness.

But Paul has a bigger point to make here: The biggest debt we owe, and it is definitely an unrepayable one, is the debt of love. And his advice is challenging yet compelling: “Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other.” (MSG)

Now understand, this debt derives from our indebtedness to God for his unmerited love for us, most graciously and tenderly demonstrated in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. Romans 5:8 powerfully reminds us of this love, and by extension, the debt of love we owe to God:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The conditions of our debt repayment are clearly spelled out both in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18), and by Jesus, himself, in Matthew 22:39,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Here’s the thing about this love debt: You cannot love God with all your being without loving your fellow human beings with all your energies, and you cannot love your fellow human beings properly without loving God as he deserves. But if you get love for God and love for people right, you have nailed the laws of God governing human relationships (Rom 13:9) and are well on your way to paying your un-payable debt of love.

But just remember, you will never pay that one off — and that’s a good thing. So in the love-your-fellow-man department, you might as well go for broke.

Get Rooted: When Paul wrote Romans 13, he didn‘t insert a chapter break at the end of chapter 12. Chapters and verses were later added by editors, so what Paul wrote in this chapter was a simply continuation of his call in Romans 12:1-2 to offer our everyday lives as pleasing worship to God. In light of that, consider how your attitude toward governmental leaders (Romans 13:1-7), your treatment of the people in your life (Romans 13:8-10), and your personal purity in immoral times (Romans 13:11-14) might need to change in order to be offered as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

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Props To The Prez

Like It Or Not, He or She Is God's Ordained Authority

UNSHAKEABLE: “Everyone” is obliged under God’s rule to submit to earthly authorities. Whether it is the president or the policeman, city councilmen or congressman, democrat or republican, charismatic governor or senile senator, through the process that gave them their role God has granted these officials the authority to lead you. In light of that, God expects you to “give them what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” (Rom 13:7) Let me repeat Paul: if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor! So come on people, give the president his or her props — the proper respect God expects from you, if for nothing else, the office he or she holds. I understand that you may not like the president, or governor, or dog catcher — Paul never said you had to — but they are God’s servant. (Rom 4:4) And if you choose to rebel against the authority the office represents, then you might as well shake your fist in the face of God, because that is, in effect what you are doing.

Like it or not, we will one day give account to God for every idle word that we speak against the politicians that somehow got put into leadership over us. So be careful what you say!—Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 13:1

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

“Everyone” is obliged under God’s rule to submit to earthly authorities. So, deal with it, Democrats! Come on, Republicans, respect your president! And just hold on a minute, Independents, you are not exempt from this either!

Whether it is the president or the policeman, city councilmen or congressman, democrat or republican, charismatic governor or senile senator, through the process that gave them their role God has granted these officials the authority to lead you. In light of that, God expects you to “give them what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” (Rom 13:7) Let me repeat Paul: if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor!

So come on people, give the president his or her props — the proper respect God expects from you, if for nothing else, the office he or she holds. I understand that you may not like the president, governor, or dog catcher — Paul never said you had to — but they are God’s servants. (Rom 4:4) And if you choose to rebel against the authority the office represents, then you might as well shake your fist in the face of God, because that is, in effect what you are doing. Really? Yes! Look at what Paul says in the next verse:

He who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Rom 13:2)

By now, depending on what party you roll with, you may be quite irritated with what I am saying. That’s okay … I’m used to it. You might even be thinking that these seven verses in Romans 13 may just be the one and only place in Scripture that is not divinely inspired; that Paul took leave of his senses at this point and wandered off the theological reservation when he wrote about respecting and obeying governmental leaders.

Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. These verses are Bible, which means that they are inspired and that you are accountable for them. Like it or not, you and I will one day stand before God and give account for every idle word (Matt 12:36) that we speak against the politicians that somehow — Lord only knows — got put into leadership over us. So be careful! Be respectful. And remember that ultimately, their authority derives from God’s authority, and they, too, are not just accountable to the voting public, but to God himself.

Having said that, there are ways to redress grievances with governmental authorities. In the USA there is a democratic process for electing and removing leaders, and Christians ought to be actively, aggressively, and unashamedly engaged in that process. Furthermore, believers are never, ever expected to obey a leader or a law that violates God’s higher law. (Ex 1:17, Acts 4:19) Should that happen, you and I are given permission by God to speak truth to power, resist — non-violently and respectfully, of course, never injuring our Christian witness — and be ready to go to jail, if not the gallows, for our faith.

But by and large, the most common and persistent response our Christian faith calls for in terms of our relationship to governmental authorities is prayer.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1-4)

Pray for the president — you gotta be kidding? Submit to his authority — are you nuts? Give props to a guy or gal I don’t respect a whole lot — get real! Well, think about this: Paul words here in Romans 13 were written around AD 57 when a guy named Nero was emperor of Rome. Nero was not a nice guy — especially to Christians. (You might want to do a little reading in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Books/FBOM/fbom-chap_02.htm)

So here’s the deal: If Paul could do it, so can you!

Get Rooted: When Paul wrote Romans 13, he didn‘t insert a chapter break at the end of chapter 12. Chapters and verses were later added by editors, so what Paul wrote in this chapter was simply a continuation of his call in Romans 12:1-2 to offer our everyday lives as pleasing worship to God. In light of that, consider how your attitude toward governmental leaders (Romans 13:1-7), your treatment of the people in your life (Romans 13:8-10), and your personal purity in immoral times (Romans 13:11-14) might need to change in order to be offered as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

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The Noble Peace Prize!

No Pursuit Is Higher

UNSHAKEABLE: The Noble Peace Prize! You heard it right: noble, not Nobel. Our call as followers of the Prince of Peace is to be emissaries of peace, representing his priority agenda. Moreover, peacemaking is high on the kingdom platform of the One who is known as the God of peace. How else will the world surrender their worship to the God of peace, accept the Prince of Peace as their savior, and come under the rule of the kingdom of peace unless the subjects of that kingdom flesh out God’s all-encompassing peace in their everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around lives? So your assignment today is peacemaking. Mine, too. There is no more noble pursuit. When it is possible, as much as it depends on you, pursuing peace is an effort worthy of the “noble” peace prize. Nothing is as prized by God as the noble efforts his children exert to achieve peace.

The Noble Peace Prize! No — you read it right: noble, not Nobel. You see, nothing is as prized by the God of peace as the noble efforts his children exert to achieve peace.—Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 12:18

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

No — you heard it right: noble, not Nobel … the Noble Peace Prize. Nothing is as prized by God as the noble efforts his children exert to achieve peace.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers!” That proclamation of blessing came from Jesus’ very first sermon — the Sermon on the Mount — found in Matthew 5-7. He was just launching his messianic ministry and in the opening lines (Matt 5:1-12) of his first public address, he spelled out his kingdom agenda in bullet form. These “kingdom talking points” have come to be known as the Beatitudes. This particular bullet point for blessing, peacemaking, along with seven others, reveals what God values most, what God blesses most, and what God expects most from his people as they expand his kingdom throughout Planet Earth.

God not only promises peace to his people (“and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds” — Phil 4:7) and expects his people to allow peace to govern their relationships with one another (“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace” — Col 3:15), he also calls his people to be emissaries of his peace to a human race at war with itself, and with him.

Yes, that is our call — emissaries of peace, representing the agenda of the one who was known as the Prince of Peace. Peacemaking is high on the kingdom platform of the One who is known as the God of peace. (Rom 15:33, Rom 16:20, Phil 4:9, 1 Thess 5:23, Heb 13:20) How else will the world surrender their worship to the God of peace, accept the Prince of Peace as their savior, and come under the rule of the kingdom of peace unless the subjects of that kingdom flesh out God’s all-encompassing peace in their everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around lives?

So that is your assignment today. Mine, too. There is no more noble pursuit. Will you be successful at achieving peace in your home, at work, while you are at school, on the highway in traffic, online as you swipe through your favorite social media platform, or in your little corner of the world? I don’t know, but I do know that if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, your life can be a powerful catalyst for peace.

And if you give that your very best shot, if you “keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing—then the God of peace will be with you.” (Phil 4:9). And not only will he be with you, he will bless you, for Jesus has promised blessings to those who are “the peacemakers,”

You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. (Matthew 5:9, MSG)

Get Rooted: All this week, pray the prayer made famous by St. Francis of Assisi. It is a good one: “Make me an instrument of your peace Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”

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Sober Up!

Don’t Act Big, Don’t Act Small, Just Act Medium

UNSHAKEABLE: If at all possible, it is best not to think of yourself at all. That is what the Biblical writers had in mind when they spoke of the virtue of humility, which is not so much thinking less of yourself (both quantitatively as well as qualitatively), but the freedom from thinking about yourself altogether. However, if you must think of yourself, Paul says to do so with “sober judgment.” (Rom 12:3) And if you do that with the measure of faith you’ve been given, then rather than having either a too high or a too low estimation of yourself, you will have an accurate picture of what you are: a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. (Romans 12:1)

Forget about yourself! Practice being absent minded when it comes to you. Get you out of your thoughts and replace them with plans for offering yourself as a living sacrifice to God. —Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 12:3

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

If at all possible, it is best not to think of yourself at all. That is what the Biblical writers had in mind when they spoke of the virtue of humility, which is not so much thinking less of yourself (both quantitatively as well as qualitatively), but the freedom from thinking about yourself altogether.

However, if you must think of yourself, Paul says to do so with “sober judgment.” (Rom 12:3) And if you do that with the measure of faith you’ve been given, then rather than having either a too high or a too low estimation of yourself, you will have an accurate picture of what you are: a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. (Rom 12:1)

Think about that — a living sacrifice. An Old Testament sacrifice had to die in order to offer pleasing worship to God, but when Jesus came along, he became to final sacrifice called upon to die. Old Testament sacrifices are no longer required by God; New Covenant sacrifices are now what bring pleasing worship to God, and those offerings are called upon to live.

Of course, as a living sacrifice, we must first die to ourselves — our flesh, our own selfish desires, and our false estimation of who we are and what we should be. But our real call is to live — to live in view of God’s mercy (Rom 12:1), to live for him and through him and to him his glory (Rom11:36), and to live to fulfill the purpose for which he has gifted us (Rom 12:4-8). And that great purpose for which you have been gifted is specifically spelled out in this section of verses: it is to live and serve and function and contribute to the family of God in which you have now been placed:

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. (Rom 12:4-5)

Yes, you have been called to die to yourself — which is a daily (and difficult) exercise in self-mortification. But your highest calling is now to live unto God — to live as a living sacrifice. Do you see yourself as a living sacrifice? That is truly what “sober judgment” will produce. If that is not fundamentally how you see your role in life, then you need to sober up!

Let me give you a challenge this week: Forget about yourself! Practice being absent-minded when it comes to you. Get you out of your thoughts and replace them with plans for offering yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Sober up and crawl back up on the altar of sacrifice—and for Christ’s sake, stay there!

Get Rooted: This week’s challenge: Forget about yourself! Practice being absent-minded when it comes to you. Get you out of your thoughts and replace them with plans for offering yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God by using the gifts he has given you to serve in his family.

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The Key To Everything

Think Early, Think Often, Think Christianly

UNSHAKEABLE: Herein lies an important truth about the human mind: What we do — our behavior — and what is done to us — our circumstances — do not produce what we think. Rather, what we think produces our behavior in any given set of circumstances. That is, “right thinking” enables and encourages “right living” — godliness, a Christ-like response to life, an eternal perspective, an attitude of abundance, a Biblical worldview, etc. That’s why Paul calls us to “let God change us into new people by changing the way we think.” (Rom 12:2) Right thinking is THE key to everything!

Right thinking is the key to everything — godly living, significance and satisfaction, relational wholeness, the abundant life, spiritual growth, unbridled joy — everything! —Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God change you into a new person by changing the way you think.

We have a calling as Christians to right thinking. Right thinking is the key to everything — to godly living, to significance and satisfaction, to relational wholeness, to the abundant life, to spiritual growth, to unbridled joy — everything!

Paul writes that we are to let God change us by changing the way we think. In Philippians 4:8, he describes the kind of thinking that will lead to the changed life:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

When Paul says to “think about such things,” he intentionally chose the Greek term is logizomai, which means to compute, to calculate—to think deliberately, proactively, and strategically. It speaks of an exercise in mental reflection that affects one’s conduct. It is the word from which we get our word for logic.

In other words, as those who have been redeemed through God’s mercy by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, thinking this way is only logical. When Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2 to present our bodies as living sacrifices — sacrifices that remain in the holiness imputed to us by Christ’s own sacrificial death — he says this is primarily possible through the transformation of our thinking, i.e., “right thinking.” Interestingly, when Paul says this is our “reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship” (Amplified Bible), he uses that same Greek root word for logical, logikos, i.e., “right thinking.”

Now herein lies an important truth about the human mind: What we do — our behavior — and what is done to us — our circumstances — do not produce what we think. Rather, what we think produces our behavior in any given set of circumstances. That is, “right thinking” enables and encourages “right living” — godliness, a Christ-like response to life, an eternal perspective, an attitude of abundance, a Biblical worldview, etc.

Psychiatrist William Glasser, the father of reality therapy, discovered in his study of how the brain works that humans aren’t controlled by external factors, but by internal desires. Furthermore, our desires are predetermined by our thinking. So, he concludes that the mind is the command center determining conduct. Therefore, the critical issue for man is how he thinks.

Glasser had only discovered what the Bible had already said long ago — that we are the product of our thinking. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks within himself, so he is.” That’s why Proverbs 4:23 also says, “Above all else, guard your heart (the heart In Hebrew thought was the center of thinking) for it is the wellspring of life.”

If you want to improve your experience of life, deliberately and strategically change your thinking. Now when Paul says, “think about,” he doesn’t mean to leave it up to whatever pops into your brain. He is saying to intentionally and rigidly allow only certain things into your mind. He is referring to the practice or the spiritual discipline of setting godly virtues and Biblical values as the gatekeeper of your mind.

He is not suggesting silly mind games or positive thinking, mere optimism, or some type of self-hypnosis, he is calling us to think deeply, rationally, and habitually about the things of God. He is calling us to think first, think early, think often, think deeply, think always. Think first, act second, feel third! Then your feelings will be managed by your thinking and your actions will be sound.

God created us with a mind, and he commands us to think. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together.” And the primary path for our reasoning is God’s Word. When God gave us his revelation, he didn’t give us a movie, or a series of music videos, and not even an eBook book with background organ music. He gave us the written Word, which by nature calls us and causes us to think.

In his book, “Your Mind Matters, John Stott wrote, “Sin has more dangerous effects on our feeling than our thinking, because our opinions are more easily checked and regulated by revealed truth than are experiences.” Right thinking is the key to Godly character.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pointed out that our worry and anxiety are “a failure to think” that God is close and in control, and that he cares about us. Most people assume worry comes from thinking too much. But in reality, we get anxious for not thinking enough in the right direction. Right thinking is thinking rightly about God’s purposes, promises, and plans. Right thinking is thinking reasonably about God’s revealed truth. Right thinking is the key to Spirit-controlled emotions.

A.W. Tozer wrote in his book, Knowledge of the Holy, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Right thinking is the key to your experience of God.

Thinking rightly is the catalyst for a great life. So, watch your input; it becomes thought. Watch your thoughts; they become attitudes. Watch your attitudes; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Now go think rightly. It is the key to everything!

Get Rooted: Stop at the very first word of Romans 12: “Therefore.” Whenever you come to a “therefore” in your Bible reading, you ought to ask yourself, “what is it there for?” What Paul goes on to say in these first two verses comprises what is arguably the most important duty of all true Christ-followers: The offering of our everyday lives to God as our only and reasonable act of worship. “Therefore” …what is the basis of this call to Christian duty? (Hint: Go back to Romans 11:36.)