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The Christian Working Woman
Hosted by Mary Lowman · EN
The Christian Working Woman with Mary Lowman exists to encourage, equip and empower workplace Christians in the marketplace.
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Lamenting – 4
Jul 200:03:00Tap to summarizePresented by Julie Busteed Have you ever read the book of Book of Job? Or is it one of those books you tend to skim through in your Bible reading plan? I understand if you do. It can be difficult to read chapter after chapter filled with anguish and suffering. But Job’s life gives us a powerful example worth paying attention to. We’re told Job was blameless and upright, a man who feared God and turned away from evil. He had a wife, many children, enormous wealth, servants, and great influence. Scripture even says he was the greatest man among all the people of the East. Yet, God allowed Job to be tested by Satan. In a short period of time, Job lost nearly everything—his wealth, his children, and even his health and reputation. For much of the book, we read Job’s cries of sorrow and lament, along with the mostly unhelpful responses from his friends. They assumed his suffering must be punishment for some hidden sin. What they did not know was the conversation that had taken place between God and Satan at the beginning of the story. God had allowed this testing for a purpose. The apostle Peter later writes that trials test the genuineness of our faith so that it may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. There is purpose, even when we cannot see it. Eventually, God spoke to Job. And when Job demanded answers, God reminded him he alone is God. And Job finally learned when nothing else was left, he still had God. And that was enough. The deeper relationship with God is great joy. In the end, Job’s wealth was restored and he was blessed again. But in our own lives, we do not always receive the kind of ending Job did. And still, we are called to trust God. Knowing God is better than knowing all the answers. Do you believe that? Do you live that way? We all want explanations for why certain things happen or why they do not happen. Yet, many times those answers never come. What do we do with unanswered questions, with hopes and expectations that seem to be slipping away? We turn toward knowing God more deeply. Job ultimately says, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him (Job 13:15). What a statement of faith. Could you say that? Could I? Could we honestly say, “Even if God does not give me this particular hope or blessing, I will still trust him”? Or “Even when life is painful, disappointing, and heartbreaking, I will continue to hope in God”? If you are in a difficult season right now, I encourage you to spend time in Psalms. They give voice to deep grief, fear, frustration, and sorrow, while continually turning our eyes back to the living God and the hope we have in him.
Transcribe →Lamenting – 3
Jul 100:03:00Tap to summarizePresented by Julie Busteed The disciples did not expect Jesus to suffer and die on a cross. They believed he was the Messiah sent from God, and after spending three years with him, they had come to know and trust him deeply. Yet they still did not fully understand what was ahead. The prophets had spoken about the Messiah’s suffering, and Jesus himself told the disciples several times that he would suffer, die, and rise again. Matthew records: From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter responded by rebuking Jesus: “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Jesus answered him sharply: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Matthew 16:21-23). What a contrast for Peter. Earlier, Jesus had blessed him for declaring Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now Peter is being rebuked because he was focused on earthly expectations instead of God’s greater plan. Peter envisioned a kingdom established immediately—a Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel’s power. He likely imagined reigning alongside King Jesus. Then suddenly, Jesus spoke of suffering and death instead. And when Jesus was crucified, the disciples were devastated. Their hopes and expectations seemed completely shattered. They had dreamed of freedom, restoration, and a visible earthly kingdom. Instead, they faced grief, confusion, and despair. It wasn’t until after the resurrection, when they saw Jesus alive again, that the pieces began to come together. Only then did they begin to understand the kingdom Jesus had been talking about all along—not merely an earthly kingdom, but an eternal one. I know we all experience disappointment and grief in this life, and often it doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes you may even wonder if you’ve done something wrong for God to withhold the blessing you hoped and prayed for. It is normal to lament—to grieve when life does not turn out the way you expected. It is normal to cry out to God, ask him questions, and at times feel as though he is silent. But I urge you not to give up or turn away from him. Continue to bring your sorrow honestly before him and then remind yourself of who he is and what he has already done for you. God loved you enough to send his only Son as the perfect sacrifice for your sin so you could be reconciled to him and have eternal life. This life, with all its joys and heartbreaks, is temporary. You and I have so much to be thankful for and to look forward to when we do meet the resurrected Jesus face to face.
Transcribe →Lamenting – 2
Jun 3000:03:00Tap to summarizePresented by Julie Busteed Have you ever dreamed and planned for a future only to have it not work out? In John 4, we see Jesus encounter someone who knew that feeling well. Jesus and his disciples were traveling from Jerusalem back to Galilee. Instead of avoiding Samaria, as most Jews did because of the deep division between Jews and Samaritans, Jesus chose to go through it. Around midday, tired and thirsty, he stopped at Jacob’s well while his disciples went into town for food. A Samaritan woman came to draw water at the hottest part of the day. Most women came in the cool morning hours, but she came when she expected no one else to be there. Later we learn why: she had been married five times, and the man she was living with was not her husband. Her life likely had not turned out the way she had imagined. She may have carried shame, disappointment, loneliness, or a sense that she would never escape the cycle she was in. Then she encountered Jesus. She was surprised a Jewish man would even speak to her. But Jesus breaks barriers. Their conversation began with physical water, but Jesus quickly turned it toward spiritual things, offering her living water that would become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. At first, she misunderstood him and asked for this water so she would no longer have to return to the well by herself in the heat of the day. But as the conversation continued, she realized Jesus knew everything about her life. Instead of condemning her, he revealed himself to her. When she spoke about the coming Messiah, Jesus told her plainly, I who speak to you am he. This is the first recorded time Jesus openly identified himself as the Messiah, and he did so not to religious leaders in Jerusalem, but to a Samaritan woman at a well. Her response was immediate. She returned to town and told everyone, Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? John tells us many Samaritans believed because of her testimony, and many more believed after hearing Jesus for themselves. They declared he truly was the Savior of the world. This Samaritan woman who was living a life she probably didn’t dream of or plan for, now had hope and purpose because of her meeting with Jesus. Once she realized who he was, she couldn’t help but tell others who he was and what he had done for her. Whatever shame or embarrassment she previously felt, fell away. I think there must have been a visible difference in her manner and appearance, because the people listened to her and came out to meet Jesus and hear from him. An unlikely meeting between a Jewish rabbi and a Samaritan woman led many people to faith. And what first drew her to believe was not a miracle or a sign, but the realization that Jesus fully knew her and still offered her grace. Maybe just like this woman your dreams and plans are not happening as you expected. Maybe you’re grieving unfulfilled dreams. You are filled with disappointment, sorrow, and loneliness. Please know God sees you. He hears your cries of lament. He has a purpose and a plan, and it’s better than you can imagine. It just might not happen in your timing. Continue to trust in him, to offer him praise because of who he is, to walk daily with him. He is your only true source of peace and joy.
Transcribe →Lamenting
Jun 2900:03:00Tap to summarizePresented by Julie Busteed Maybe you’ve dreamed of a promotion or a certain career path, but for reasons outside your control, those dreams haven’t become reality. Maybe you’ve longed for a spouse, yet that relationship has never come. Maybe you dreamed of a strong and joyful marriage, but it hasn’t turned out the way you had hoped. Or perhaps you’ve desired to have a family, and that longing remains unfulfilled. Maybe it’s your health that has changed unexpectedly. What went wrong? There are so many expectations in life—good desires, even good gifts that our Father often gives. So why hasn’t it worked out for you? With all of this comes real sorrow—grieving the life you thought God would bless you with. What do you do with that grief? How do you move forward? I think sometimes we think we should put on a brave face and not face the sorrow or grieve the pain of unrealized expectations. But the Bible has a lot to say about lamenting. Lamenting is the process of expressing sorrow, grief, and pain. About one-third of the entire book of Psalms is about lamenting. We see personal laments like David crying out to God and community laments when the people of God cry out to him. And of course, there is a book of the Bible with that title—Lamentations—written by the prophet Jeremiah. He is often called the weeping prophet. His heart was broken over things that break God’s heart. He laments the sin of the Israelites and the impending destruction of Jerusalem. He laments the future, but he still has hope. In the middle of the book of Lamentations Jeremiah acknowledges this. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord (Lamentations 3:22-26). Even though Jeremiah wasn’t around to see the Messiah Jesus Christ come, he had hope in the midst of sorrow. And in Hebrews chapter 11, known as the Hall of Faith, we read about the patriarchs, kings, prophets, and others who were hoping and looking forward for the promised Messiah but didn’t see it happen in their lifetime. The last two verses are: These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:39-40). They had unfulfilled hopes and expectations, and I wonder how hard that must have been. To wait on God and not see the answer. But they didn’t lose hope. Because God had planned something better.
Transcribe →Dealing with Guilt
Jun 2700:14:28Tap to summarizeThere are few days in our lives that are guilt-free, and far-too-many of our days are filled with guilt. Life under a load of guilt is not the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. Guilt steals our joy, hinders our productivity, interrupts our peace, harms our relationships, and worst of all, makes us self-focused. Think about it—when you’re feeling guilty, you’re thinking about yourself; and I’ve learned that when I think about myself very much, it always leads to discouragement and despair. Have you lived with guilt so long that it has become your daily companion and you no longer recognize its evil source and the harm that it causes? Little wonder that the enemy of our souls wields this weapon of guilt so broadly and with such effectiveness. He has long since recognized how easily we put up with guilt and how difficult it is for us to dump it. So, if he can keep us guilt-ridden, he keeps us from doing all the good things God planned in advance for us to do, as we read in Ephesians 2:10. He steals our joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. While he may not be able to trip us up with some addiction or impurity or disgraceful public sin, it’s not that difficult to bombard our minds with guilt. Someone looks at us the wrong way and we take on guilt. One failure to jump through someone else’s hoop and we’re guilt-ridden. One memory of past sins and guilt moves in. But we often fail to see it as a tool of Satan because we feel like we deserve to feel guilty! What is guilt? Guilt is both a fact and a feeling. It is possible to be guilty without feeling guilty. It is possible to feel guilty without being guilty. And obviously, it is possible to be guilty and feel guilty. No doubt we have all experienced these three conditions. Being guilty without feeling guilty can be due to ignorance. I may be guilty of breaking a law because I am ignorant of the law. It is also quite possible to have a hardened heart that feels no guilt even when guilty. Hebrews 3:13 admonishes us not to be “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” I may drive at an excessive speed even though I know I am breaking the law without feeling a tinge of guilt because I’ve become hardened to breaking that law and it doesn’t make me feel guilty, even though I am. Feeling guilty even when we are not guilty is a more common struggle for most of us. This false guilt is caused by wrong thinking. We feel guilty because we allow ourselves to think thoughts that tell us it is our fault, whatever “it” is. In this condition, we ignore the facts, we wallow in self-recrimination, and we send ourselves into a downward spiral of despair and discouragement without justification. That’s because this false guilt is a feeling, not a reality. It has been said that feelings have zero I.Q. That means they’re not smart, and in dealing with my own feelings, I have found this to frequently be the case. My feelings can mislead me because they are often not based on reality. But feelings can be very strong and convincing, whether accurate or not. It is not God’s will for us to live in guilt. Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Living with guilt is living with a yoke of slavery. It is allowing those feelings of guilt to choke the very life out of you. And Jesus came to set you free from this yoke. It’s time we start refusing to submit to the yoke of guilt. But, you’re thinking, that is easier said than done. Of course, it’s easier said than done! What isn’t? But that’s no excuse for not doing it! It is possible to learn to live without guilt! We have power to do it because we have God’s Spirit in us to empower us, providing of course, we have been born again into God’s family. Dealing with True Guilt True guilt is feeling guilty because you are guilty. That is what we feel when God is convicting us of some area in our lives that needs to be changed, and we are resisting that change. Harboring true guilt for any length of time will cause you great harm. It took King David way too long to repent of his great sin with Bathsheba. In Psalm 38 he describes the pain of true guilt. David’s physical health was dramatically affected. Literal physical ailments and conditions were the result of this true guilt that David experienced. And of course, he was plagued with emotional and mental pain, too. I wonder how many of our physical problems are caused by true guilt—by a reluctance to repent and turn away from sin? It is often the cause of depression and despair. David said, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” True guilt is too heavy for us, too. Whether you harbor some huge guilt like David’s or just keep refusing to face the “little stuff” in your life that needs to be cleaned up, that true guilt will eventually take its toll on you and cause mental, emotional and physical suffering. King David describes the great relief that comes when true guilt is eliminated by confession and forgiveness: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. . . I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:1 – 5). God will keep his hand heavy on you and me when there is true guilt that needs to be confessed and forgiven. Not to be cruel to us, but to restore our fellowship with him and heal us. Dealing with False Guilt False guilt is what we put on ourselves when we keep remembering what God has forgiven and forgotten! False guilt is what we feel when someone appears to be disappointed in us. False guilt comes on us when we have to say “no.” False guilt is often a result of trying to please people. False guilt comes when we live with unrealistic expectations of ourselves, and when we allow others to dictate what and who we should be. We must learn to discern the difference between true and false guilt. When you start feeling guilty, stop and ask yourself: Is this true or false guilt? Have I done something which I can specifically identify for which I deserve blame? Or is this just that nebulous feeling of guilt I seem to get whenever I feel someone is unhappy with me, or I can’t be superwoman, or it’s something totally beyond my control? One of the first signs that you are dealing with false guilt is that you just can’t say exactly why you feel guilty. When you cannot pinpoint a specific reason for your guilt, it is highly likely you’re dealing with false guilt. Perhaps the false guilt we suffer from the most is guilt over our past. We all tend to go back and remember the sins of the past, and even though they are forgiven and God remembers them no longer, we don’t seem to be able to purge our memory. One night I was on my way home and my foot got heavy on the gas pedal. I was going 45 in a 30 mile zone, near my home, and so, two doors from my own home, I got stopped for speeding and the nice officer wrote me a ticket. As he handed it to me, he said that because I had a clean record, I could pay a $50 fine, and the speeding ticket would not show up on my record at all. He said, “There will be no record anywhere of this offense; it will be as though it never happened.” That’s what God does for us, but we don’t have to pay $50. By simple faith and confession, he blots out our transgressions, and he keeps no record of them. If you looked on his books, it wouldn’t be there. Oh, how we need to understand this beautiful truth and learn to let go of the guilt of forgiven sin, remembering there is therefore now no more condemnation for us. Do you know what girlish guilts are? Usually, the first response to a girlish guilt is: “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Here are some examples of what I call “girlish guilts”: A coworker says that while you were on vacation last week, the place fell apart and she had to work late every night. You feel guilty for taking a vacation. Your child says she got in trouble because she left her homework at home, trying to shift the blame to you for not reminding her to take her homework. You feel like you’re a bad mom, and you feel guilty. Your sister says she tried to reach you three times yesterday and kept getting your voice mail. She didn’t leave a message but still seems irritated that you were not there for her when she needed you. You feel like you’ve failed your sister and you feel guilty. Your boss asks you when you’re going to complete a job, but it is not your assignment. And when you try to explain, he/she just gives you that look, and you feel guilty. You promised to help at church and then you came down with a bad cold the night before. The tone in your friend’s voice was anything but sympathetic when you called to say you couldn’t make it, and you feel very guilty. Are you getting the gist of these girlish guilts? These are not major issues of guilt, but just an attitude that women often carry which says, “If I’m accused, I must be guilty.” Do you need to break your bad habit of apologizing for things for which you are not guilty and finding more appropriate responses than “I’m sorry”? Remember, you can empathize—put yourself in someone else’s shoes—without apologizing. Remember, Romans 8:1 tells us, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” so if God is not condemning you, you ha...
Transcribe →Think about What You Think About – 5
Jun 2600:03:00Tap to summarizeI’ve been urging you to think about what you think about—to become more and more aware of wrong thought patterns. Those wrong thoughts are keeping you in bondage—in bondage to fear and doubt and sin of all kinds. I’ve been talking about bringing your thoughts into the captivity of Philippians 4:8, thinking about what is true, noble, right pure, lovely, and admirable. I want to examine the great benefits that come when you practice this biblical mind control. For right thinking we are promised two wonderful things in Romans 8:6: The mind set on the flesh is death, but the but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Life and peace. You can’t buy them, you can’t earn them, you can’t manufacture them. They come to you as a result of having a mind set on the Spirit of God, having a thought life that stays carefully within biblical boundaries. This is such an important Christian principle, that I’ve written a book on it entitled Think About What You Think About. I am convinced that in my own life, the pathway to freedom and joy has been greatly impacted by learning to think about what I think about and bringing my wrong thought patterns in line with Philippians 4:8. The book, which is newly updated and edited, gives you much more help in how to be set free from the wrong thought patterns of your life. Believe me, whether you realize it or not, you may be suffering greatly because you’ve developed some truly wrong thought patterns and they are holding you in bondage. You may have some deep ruts in your brain caused by wrong thought patterns that have caused you sadness and all kinds of problems. But you can learn to put this spiritual discipline in your life that will reverse those wrong thought patterns and set you free. I can testify to you, as one who is still learning this principle, that it has been probably the most life-changing guideline for me. It took me years to realize I needed to control my thought life, by God’s grace and to his glory. I just never thought about what I thought about. But when I began, I was amazed at how making some real changes in my thought patterns changed me, for the good! I recommend it to you very highly. If you think my book, Think About What You Think About, would be helpful, you can order it on amazon.
Transcribe →Think about What You Think About – 4
Jun 2500:03:00Tap to summarizeYou’ve heard the phrase that our computer age generated: garbage in, garbage out. It’s not only true of computers, it’s also true of our minds. We’re examining how we can bring our thoughts into captivity, how we can change wrong thought patterns that keep us mired in deception and lies and misery. One important element in creating a right thought life is to carefully guard what you put into your mind. If you allow garbage in, your thought life will reflect that input. What do you read? Trashy novels, junk on the internet? Do you spend more time reading God’s Word and good Christian material than you do reading the world’s literature, even if it’s not necessarily evil? You will never change your thinking if you’re reading trash or failing to read the Bible consistently with top priority over all other reading. What do you look at on television and videos? What you see with your eyes has a stronger impact on you than what you read or hear—combined! If you’re pouring visual junk into your mind and not screening what you allow yourself to watch or see, your thought life will be filled with those images, and it is very difficult to get rid of them. Believe me, what you look at is determining to a large degree what you think about. What do you listen to? Are you soaking up the world’s music? Much of the lyrics are not within the guidelines of Philippians 4:8. What kind of conversations do you listen to? Do you subject yourself to off-color conversations, gossipy conversations, critical conversations? Your thinking won’t change with that kind of input going into your mind. If you will change the input into your mind, you’ll be amazed how your thinking will change. Of course, an essential is the Word of God, poured into your mind regularly and systematically. Scripture memorization is a fantastic way to program your mind correctly. Good reading has helped me immensely. I simply can’t overemphasize the importance of guarding your mind closely. The world we live in is full of garbage, and we’ve become desensitized to it. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.
Transcribe →Think about What You Think About – 3
Jun 2400:03:00Tap to summarizeI’m examining our thought lives—the thought patterns we are often in bondage to because we have not learned to bring every thought into captivity and make our thoughts obedient to Christ. Philippians 4:8 gives us clear parameters for our thoughts. They are to be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Let’s look at how to begin that process. First, you have to truly begin to think about what you are thinking about at any given moment. You must literally examine individual thoughts, one by one to make sure they fit within the Philippians boundaries. I can testify captive thinking becomes more attractive the more you practice it. I remember once starting to get into some self-pity thoughts. And as I realized it, I said to myself, “I don’t want to be depressed. I don’t want to feel sad. I will not think these self-pity thoughts.” I brought those specific self-pity thoughts into captivity, refusing to let them intrude my mind, and I then was free from the burden of self-pity. That was when I began to actually practice this principle of bringing individual thoughts into captivity. It was a new reality to me—that I could actually decide not to think about what I should not think about! Now, once you screen and test those individual thoughts, the question is, how do you stop thinking the wrong thoughts? You can determine they’re wrong, but you can’t stop thinking them! You have to use what I call the Replacement Theory. Replace the wrong thought with a right thought. You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you (Isaiah 26:3). We have a replacement thought as Christians that is guaranteed to work every time. And that replacement thought is Jesus Christ. When in doubt, think about Jesus! You may have to replace wrong thoughts every minute or two. But don’t let that discourage you. Just keep replacing. You’re changing habits that are ingrained; you’re addressing thought patterns that have dug ruts into your brain, and you keep getting stuck in those ruts. Bringing thoughts into captivity, forcing yourself to refuse to get in those wrong thought ruts, is a battle. The enemy of your soul will continue to trap you in those ruts, but if you’re a Christian, you have the power of the Holy Spirit to refuse to let him win. Don’t give up; just replace the wrong thought with the right thought, as many times as necessary.
Transcribe →Think about What You Think About – 2
Jun 2300:03:00Tap to summarizeDid you realize being open-minded can be very harmful if that means your thoughts are out of control and take you places you really don’t want to go. As Christians we need to learn to bring our thoughts into captivity and think within biblically prescribed limits, because what we think is what we are. I’m encouraging you to think about what you think about. In Philippians 4:8 we are given clear boundaries—important guardrails for our thought life. The first one is true. Untrue thoughts are not allowed, and that includes the untrue speculations and imaginings that we often indulge in. For example, do you imagine the worst and worry about things that have not yet occurred? You are not thinking true thoughts when you do. The second guardrail is noble, which means honorable, dignified, excellent. It’s possible to think something that is true, but not honorable. For instance, thinking “gossipy” thoughts about others, even if the facts are true, is not honorable thinking. There’s a third limit set on our thinking, and that is right. All of us dislike unfair treatment. And yet how often do we allow ourselves to think unfair, unjust thoughts about others. Sometimes we have prejudiced thinking toward people, even toward other races and cultures. That kind of thinking is not right. Then, our thoughts must also be pure. This covers immoral thoughts and sexual fantasies. No one is immune to these thoughts, and our society certainly promotes them. It is necessary to make certain our thoughts are pure. Next comes lovely. Is your thought life full of love, inspiring love or affection? Many times, our thoughts may pass all the other tests, but they’ll fall short on this point. In addition to true, noble, right, pure and lovely, our thoughts must be admirable or worthy of praise. If we could read what you were thinking, would we admire your thoughts? The guardrails are clear. Now, our challenge is to bring our thoughts into captivity—to stay within these guardrails.
Transcribe →Think about What You Think About
Jun 2200:03:00Tap to summarizeI want to examine one of the most critical areas of your life—your thought life. Our thought patterns are controlling us in ways we often do not even realize. Truly we must learn to think about what we think about. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul says we are to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Honestly, we are in a daily battle as to who will control our thoughts. And when we practice this most important principle of bringing every individual thought into captivity—making certain our thoughts stay within biblical guidelines—it is absolutely transformational. Most of your problems begin with wrong thought patterns, and so often you are unaware of it because you don’t think about what you are thinking about. Philippians 4:8 gives us some clear guidelines for our thoughts. Finally, 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 (Philippians 4:8). The secret to controlling your thought life is to agree to these limits and to bring your thoughts into these parameters. These are guardrails for your thought life, and when you stay within those guardrails, you avoid lots of accidents, lots of problems. If you’re driving on a mountain road that is curvy with steep drop offs, staying within those guardrails is the difference in life and death, right? In the same way, God has set boundaries for our thinking, and within those boundaries we have tremendous freedom. But when we choose to ignore the guardrails and drive wherever we wish, we lose our freedom because we become victims of our own wrong thought patterns. We find ourselves in a mental wreck of some kind, allowing wrong thoughts and thought patterns to steal our joy, ruin our peace, and cause us to say and do things that are not helpful. This is one of the most important and critical spiritual disciplines in the Christian life, and not too many of us take it seriously, to our own detriment.
Transcribe →