Wednesday-Changed Thinking

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

1 Peter 4:13,14

When something unexpected happens, what’s your first reaction? Do you welcome it like a long, lost friend and rejoice? Or do you clench your fists and get ready for a fight? Do you invite them over to your house to visit or do you call in the military to take them out?

If you’re like most people, our immediate and initial reaction is to feel threatened. To wonder how it’s going to hurt us and the ones we love. It seems like we’re almost hardwired to hear negative things loud and clear while good things are just a whisper.

And we all know what happens next. The first negative thought leads to another. And another. And another. With each negative thought, they get louder while the fear and pain grow and grow. It seems like it’s almost impossible to stop.

So, how do we stop with all these negative thoughts and fear? Actually, it’s pretty simple. I didn’t say it was easy, but it’s not complicated. There’s no need to download an updated version of an app and then follow a bunch of steps that make solving a Rubix Cube seem simple. It comes down to one word.

Replace. That’s it. We all can figure out what replace means. When one of your remotes stops working, what do you do? You replace the battery. You take out the old and put in the new. I know that this is going to sound stupid, but you don’t just add another battery. You replace it.

Why? Because there’s no way to put an additional batter in when there’s no room. The way it’s been designed and made is for so many batteries. You can try till the cows come home, but if there’s only room for one battery, you can only replace it.

The same thing is true with our minds and thoughts. I know that there’s lots of talk about multitasking, but the simple truth is that we can only think about one thing at a time. Period. People who are a lot smarter than me have written and spoken about it.

If anybody knows about this, it must be God. While he has “fearfully and wonderfully[1]” made us, there are limitations to his design. As much as I wanted to be able to fly when I jumped off the roof of my house, it was way beyond His wonderful design for me. I know this because I now have a metal hip that replaced the one that was severely injured.

So, Peter tells us how to change our response and thinking. Instead of sulking and feeling sorry for ourselves, we’re to rejoice. We’re to think that God is with us and be glad about all that’s going on. Yes, it’s painful, but because God never, never, never leaves us, he right there with us. He knows that we’re weak and made from dust[2].

The other side of the rejoicing coin is that he’s also suffered for doing and saying what’s right. He’s personally experienced the same things[3]. Imagine that, we get to share something with the God of the universe. We get the rare privilege of sharing this suffering with him.

But there’s something else about being sharing pain and suffering. Why would we rejoice? After all, the only thing we get out of it is the burning agony in this life because we did the right thing. Because we do what we do and tell people we’re doing it in loving response to God reaching out to us, we are guaranteed to not receive applause and congratulations. But to be shouted down. Put down. And even beaten down.

But the truth is that we will get something out of it. There is a reward for lovingly and humbly sharing Jesus with the people around us. As a matter of fact, we have the guarantee and promise of God that we’ll get two very important and valuable things from God himself.

• Spirit of glory. God puts his reputation on us. It’s like he puts his clothing on us in a way that everyone knows exactly what’s going on. His nametag and brand are all over the glory cloths he puts on us, pointing everyone back to himself.

• Spirit of God. He doesn’t just put any spirit on us. It’s like getting close and personally breathing on and into us. He personally puts air that’s been inside him, into us. What a very special gift.

And how does God deliver them to us? He doesn’t send us an email or text. He does oh so much more that order it online and have it delivered by somebody else. Not on your life. God says that he personally puts them on us. He comes and keeps giving and giving them to us. So, are we ready to start changing our thinking about suffering? To take the time and energy to replace our hurt, anger, and frustration with rejoicing? No one promises it to be easy. And there will be times of falling back into our practiced patterns of depression and self-pity. The promise of God is that it he will be with us, leading to being totally overjoyed. Sounds like it could be worth changing our thinking.

Noodling Questions

• On a scale of 1-to-10, how easy is it to be negative? Explain.

• How can God’s promises encourage us to change our thinking?

• What part do God’s rewards make in the way we approach change?

[1] Psalm 139”14

[2] Psalm 103:14

[3] Hebrews 4:15