Driving Thought
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:16-18
INSIGHT
As a line of cars honked their horns, I realized that my driving career was off to a less than stellar start. The issue at hand was whether I looked at oncoming traffic when attempting to yield. I felt I had (and to this day, I still do), but according to my driving instructor, I had not.
For whatever reason, he felt rush hour served as the ideal moment to slam on the brakes and lecture me regarding the importance of paying attention when yielding to oncoming traffic. The people behind didn't concur with his assessment.
Paying attention when yielding matters a great deal while behind the wheel of a car; it matters even more related to our heart. Today's scriptures remind us that we give our allegiance and affection to everything and anything.
What we submit to defines us and determines our direction. There are only two routes our heart can take. It either gets squeezed from the pressures of the world's patterns or transformed by renewing our minds. The road we go down is up to us.
Our hearts take their cue from where we set our eyes. Without stewarding our attention, we live at the mercy of whatever entertains us. Unfortunately, because our lives' pace is so hectic, we barely consider our heart's condition and where we set our gaze. We think we're looking, but we're not. Since our world functions somewhat smoothly, for the most part, we reason our soul is in tip-top shape.
It takes a collision or a breakdown for our heart's actual state to rise to the surface and demand our attention. We get stuck in patterns when we fail to address the deeper issues taking place in our hearts. We slam on the brakes and wonder how things got to be the way they are.
If we allow Him, Jesus will come in and confront the things that stand in the way of our transformation. Receiving Christ goes deeper than just an acknowledgment. It involves allowing Him to touch every part of our lives.
We possess the ability to think our thoughts. We can stop and consider what we are seeing, feeling, and thinking. We change the direction of our train of thinking by altering our driving thought and renewing our minds. The only way to get back on the road to purpose and fulfillment comes when we yield to Christ and His ways.
REFLECTION
What are your reflex thoughts? Where does following these train of thoughts take you?
How is this train of thought derailing the change you hope to see?
How could reframing those reflex thoughts create a new track?
PRAYER
God, I submit my life to walking in Your way, for I know it leads to a full life. May I yield every part of who I am to You and give you the space to shape my character and transform my heart. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.
