Divided Mind

 

Monday, October 3, 2022

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  James 1:5-8

To have a divided mind means a person’s loyalty is being pulled between opposing choices.  Up or Down, Right or Left, Good or Evil – we must constantly choose.  Even taking the next step is only possible when we choose which foot goes first. 

The person who has a history of choosing that which ends badly, eventually comes to the state of a divided mind.  Still sensing what is right and good, that person finds it impossible to decide; it’s being stuck, paralyzed by a mountain of drama and decline.  This is the instability of mind that, left unchecked, can sadly wind-up behind locked doors of a hospital ward.  At the very least, it is a painful existance.

This is a common problem in spiritual matters.  Apostle James may have been a sufferer.  James grew up in the same house as his older brother, Jesus.  He may have had typical sibling issues early on, but eventually found faith in his brother as Lord.  But the struggle to arrive at that surrender point, letting go of doubt and fear, may have been what was behind the sentences he wrote about the problem of coming to God with a divided loyalty, that which gets blown-about like a feather in a hurricane…basket-case unstable, and unable to focus on a useful life. 

Another Apostle, Paul, admitted to that syndrome:

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  Romans 3:21-23

Paul understood what it was like to be unstable, unable to control his thoughts or actions.  He was powerless to consistently live out the life of self-control, or doing good, because the fight within was too strong.

Have you been there?   ---   Yeah, me too!

So, we don’t just want to identify the problem and leave it at that.  That would be like noticing that you have cancer, and saying:  Oh…I have cancer, I think I’ll go play golf. 

No…if your mind is divided by the cancer of sin’s pull, you DO something about it.  Let’s go back to both James and Paul for the answer to the dilemma.  The starting point, says James, is to ask God for wisdom:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. James 1:5

And, recognizing his spiritual life-threatening condition, Paul takes us home to what to do with that wisdom:

Oh, what a miserable person I am!  Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God!  The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 3:24

For You Today

The answer is Jesus Christ, the LORD over all.  He was there in the beginning when God put us together.[1]  He knows how to put you back together – stable!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Difficult Choices   and   Side Tracks & Sure Things   

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] See Colossians 1:15-18 here

Divided Mind

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord.  Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts.  They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths.  You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully.  Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!  Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands.  As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should!  I will obey your decrees.  Please don’t give up on me!  Psalm 119:1-8[1]

“Walking” (or living our life) by God’s law is viewed by some as a constricting set of rules that won’t let you have fun or think for yourself.  But, a little deeper investigation of the word “law” helps us understand it’s just the opposite.  The Psalmist starts off the longest chapter in the Bible, which is all about God’s Word/Law, by telling us that those who walk in it are happy or blessed.  It’s is like cooperating with the principles of our natural environment.  When you’re in an airplane at 15,000 feet, it is wise to not test gravity without a parachute. 

We all have that internal device that measures how well we’re doing with life.  It is called heart or soul; some call it conscience.  If that internal measuring stick is only accountable to self, the outcome is called sociopathic, only doing what pleases oneself.  For the garden variety sociopath[2] there is only one person’s opinion that counts – his own.  The opinions of other people must agree with the sociopath, or those people become the enemy.

There is a sense in which we have all played the sociopath, placing our own sense of the proper order of things above even God’s design.  That is a dilemma as old as the creation of God’s angels.  Lucifer was/is a psychopath of the most violent order.  He was that from the beginning; it was what got him kicked out of heaven along with one-third of the angels who followed him.  The prophet Isaiah quotes Satan’s fatal, psychopathic attitude:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.    Isaiah 14:14

Echoing Isaiah, the New Testament writer James tells us about the danger of failing to keep your mind, heart, and soul focused on God’s will:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  James 1:5-8

As the Psalmist and James wrote, having a divided mind creates instability.  And, when it comes to having a relationship with our Creator, the instability that having a divided mind creates also means we develop a deep sense of shame.  And our shame isn’t because God hates us; it’s because we know our loving God has given us everything, life, joy, other people to love, and be loved by…and we are responding half-heartedly.  We know that God knows what is best for our lives, and we trample underfoot his loving offer of joy and peace. 

The shame we feel sometimes is also a gift from God; it’s that internal gauge we were created with telling us we’ve slipped from the pathway and need to turn around.  It’s our safeguard against the unstable life…the sociopathy of narcissistic self-love.  It’s a reminder that loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body is Job #1.

For You Today

If you feel a little uneasy in your relationship with God, and prayer is labored, sporadic, and joyless, self-examination day has arrived.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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[1] For another post on Psalm 119:1 see Finding a Straight Path

[2] “Sociopath” is currently used by the Mental Health community to describe a perhaps less violent form of “Psychopath”.  Although the terms are somewhat interchangeable the main difference is psychopaths are generally classified as biologically created, while the less-violent sociopath is conditioned.  See article at Psychology Today

Lenten Walk - Part 5

[1]

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.           Interlude   You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?     Interlude

And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.        Interlude         When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-20^(NLT)

My soul is pretty much still churning with the reality of the High School shooting in Parkland, Florida; 17 souls entered eternity.  The families and community are in shock that will cover their lives for years to come, and a 19 year old is behind bars awaiting more emotional pain than he could ever imagine. 

After such an event breaks I cannot help but try to understand the shooter’s motive(s).  I want to know what kind of pain someone was navigating for him to imagine this course of action would somehow bring relief or justification.  It never does.

The writer of Psalm 77 shares something of a parallel to what I envisage as the tortured existence of the accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz whose adopted parents both died, leaving him alone, depressed and suffering from mental illness, according to news reports by CNN[2].  There is no justifying his actions; his pain does not give license to inflict pain on others.  And that is what he did.  Nikolas Cruz imposed his pain on his victims and their families and friends.  May God have mercy.

It is still too new a wound, but the Psalmist does give hope for healing.  After a paragraph of despair and fatalistic hopelessness, from which there appears no escape, the writer turns to the future and a God-pathway from the pit; hear the corner turned:

And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders! 

It appears Nikolas Cruz never got past that corner.  Our prayers for the shooter, survivors, and their community are that they will find the embrace of the God of the corner and His healing power.

For You Today

When you experience despair, and the pathway in Lent only magnifies Golgotha’s pain, remember the God of the Corner…remember an empty tomb is coming in the morning.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Gunman Confessed…CNN