Positive Thinking and Sin

        

        I came upon an analogy today that congealed how my mind works, and it brought two recurring themes to resolution for me.  My brain is analgous to a chicken gizzard.  You chickens swallow small stones that stay in their gizzard to help them process and grind food (especially grain).  The small stone in my brain is Scripture I have memorized and the Holy Spirit.  Often I will hear or read something, and it goes into my "gizzard brain" for processing.  What follows has just come out of the gizzard and writing it down helps me digest.

        Norman Vincent Peale is much maligned by Christians for his emphasis on the power of positive thinking.  I have to confess to not having read the book.  However, I think that used in the correct way positive thinking is a beneficial Christian trait.  Let me elucidate!

        One of my favorite Christian non-fiction books is If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg.  The book is about the passage in Matthew 14 where Peter attempts to walk on water.    You will remember Peter was doing well as long as his eyes were on Jesus, but began to sink when he was overcome with fear because of the stormy sea.  We often look at Peter and scoff, but that is how most of us live our Christian life.   What does this have to do with positive thinking?

        If you have read my blog before, you know I am big proponent of Scripture memorization.  As a Christian when I think of the power of positive thinking, I think of Scripture memorization and meditation (deep thinking).   The old song from the 1940's by Johnny Mercer:

You've got to accentuate the positive 

Eliminate the negative 

Latch on to the affirmative 

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

Scripture brings my mind back to Christ, and my mission.  Scripture helps me to "latch on to the affirmative."

Struggling with self-worth and self-esteem:    Romans 5:8  "While we were still sinners Christ died for us!"  Here are a few more you can look up:  Psalm 139:14; 1 John 3:1; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Galatians 2:20.  I have to say that my favorite passage on self-worth and self-esteem is Ephesians 1, which tells us that we are CHOSEN, ADOPTED, ACCEPTED, REDEEMED and FORGIVEN. (Thank you Beth Moore!)

God's Will for your life:    Check out Isaiah 61.  Old testament I know, but it encapsulates all or most of the commands that Jesus has for us as Christians in the New Testament.  Matthew 28:19-20.

Struggling with temptation (often followed by struggle with self-esteem and self-worth):  1 Corinthians 10:31.  Some folks quote this as saying God will not give you more than you could handle.  Think about that!  If God never gave you more than you could handle, would you ever fully rely on Him?    This verse is talking about temptation, and God allowing a way for us to escape so that we can bare it.

You get the idea.  Psalm 119:11 "You word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you."  I grew up as a Christian hearing preachers explain that anything that separates us from God (even in our thought life) is sin.  At the end of this blog is a list of Scripture I challenged my High School Sunday School class (The Nerd Herd) to memorize.

New Topic:  Sin

          We all have heard that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.  There has been lots of eye rolling, grumbling and complaining from Christians.  I read a post on Facebook from The Gospel Coalition entitled 40 Questions for Christians Now Waving the Rainbow Flag.  My gizzard grain has been rolling this topic around for a couple of days now.    Part of that process was hearing and reading about people who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.   On the way to church today, the Holy Spirit finally broke the nut of contention here.  As Christians, we all agree that there is no degree of sin.  Sin separates us from God, any sin.  That means that lying, cheating, adultery, murder, gossiping separate us from God because they are sinful.  They are not sinful because the Bible says they are.  They are sinful because they are contrary to the nature of God.  How often in your work or life have you worked with, served, or helped liars, cheaters, gossipers, or adulterers?

           My point is that just because we find homosexuality more reprehensible than other sins does not make it a greater sin.  Yes, same-sex marriage is the law of the land.  However, God is still on the throne, His character is immutable, and thus homosexuality is still a sin.  Our mission on the earth has not changed (ref. Isaiah 61 and Matthew 28:19-20).   It is grievous that the sin of homosexuality is paraded in the media and in our face, but our response should be love and prayer.
          This issue on same-marriage has served as a great distraction from the real mission of the church.  To let it continue to distract us is to give the enemy a victory.  This world is not our home as Christians (Philippians 3:20).  We should have the same ambition as Paul, forgetting the past and straining toward the prize of the high calling of Christ (Philippians 3).    Peter could have walked all the way to Christ, if he had kept his eyes on Christ and not on the raging storm that distracted him.

Scripture Memory recommendations:  Isaiah 40:31; Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 119: 9,11
Matthew 6:33, 1 Corinthians 10:13; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 11:1-3; Hebrews 12:1-3; Romans 8:28-29; Romans 8:38-39; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (can include 18-21); Galatians 2:20-21; Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:14-18; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:5-8; James 1:19-21; I Peter 3:8-9; 1 Peter 3:15-17; 1 Peter 4:7-9; 1 Peter 5:6-7; 1 John 1:9.