{"id":13342,"date":"2017-04-18T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=13342"},"modified":"2017-04-04T09:32:40","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T16:32:40","slug":"renewing-our-minds-for-rejoicing-pt-2-think-reasonably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2017\/04\/18\/renewing-our-minds-for-rejoicing-pt-2-think-reasonably\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewing Our Minds for Rejoicing, Pt. 2 \u2013 \u201cThink Reasonably\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Pastor James Lee<\/em><\/p>\n

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.\u00a0 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;\u00a0 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.\u00a0 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thinking well will mean thinking reasonably, gently, and patiently. After all, that\u2019s a manifestation of growing Christlikeness, which is a fruit of contentment, as verse 5 says, \u201clet your gentle spirit be known to everyone.\u201d <\/em>One translation says \u201csweet reasonableness.\u201d It refers not just to an outward gentleness, but a genuinely gentle spirit.\u00a0 If we\u2019re thinking after Christ\u2019s thoughts, we\u2019re going to resolve to be gentle, patient, and reasonable. But if we\u2019re not thinking to honor Christ, we\u2019re not.\u00a0 Even if life seems to be coming apart at the seams, reasonable thinking will remind us that God is sovereign and in absolute control, and nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God!\u00a0 We think, \u201cCome on, don\u2019t you remember God is still on His throne, and He\u2019s for you, not against you.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s irrational to think otherwise.\u00a0 And so you\u2019re gracious and forgiving and lending careful thought to what\u2019s in your heart. You\u2019re thinking how to properly relate to others, not merely reacting out of the flesh, but responding by the Spirit. Reasonable thinking remembers God\u2019s call upon His children to love as He loves us, to forgive as He\u2019s forgiven us.<\/p>\n

Thinking well means thinking reasonably as it pertains to our hearts. For example, the actual cause of discontentment and depression is not people or circumstances, it\u2019s us, it\u2019s our response. We\u2019re not victims in this. The reality is that no situation automatically produces a result inside you.<\/strong> And if it did, then there are three blasphemous consequences: (1) then we can blame God who is in control of all situations, (2) call God a liar declaring that 1 Corinthians 10:13 wouldn\u2019t be true, and (3) so that there is no hope for contentment. We might convince ourselves otherwise, but it\u2019s our response to adversity that\u2019s the difference. So it\u2019s never the circumstances. And if it\u2019s never the circumstances, then we can have joy in any situation.<\/p>\n

Adversity can build character, or it can break it down into something ugly. It\u2019s how we respond. Ideally, we would like to respond well from the start, but I\u2019m speaking ultimately too. It reveals where we put our trust and satisfaction and worship.\u00a0 We can allow it to make us better, or we can allow it to make us bitter. For example, sometimes if I\u2019ve had a difficult day, I come home from work or a painful meeting, and I sadly take it out on my wife and kids. Even though what might have angered me is so trivial and inconsequential, or plainly not even wrong.\u00a0 Either way, I\u2019ve sinned against them. It might be that they didn\u2019t clean up their toys, or that they\u2019re too loud\u2026 but, then I sinfully get upset.\u00a0 And then I react with a blameshifting, unloving heart.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because of my wife and kids? \u00a0No.\u00a0 The real answer isn\u2019t that. So, why? \u00a0Because of me, because of what\u2019s stirring violently in my heart and painfully entertained in my mind. But hopefully and thankfully, I come under the Spirit\u2019s conviction\u2026 and my wife Sandy\u2019s godly correction helps a bunch too. \u00a0And God\u2019s Word drops like a hammer on my proud heart.\u00a0 And reasonable thinking recalls God\u2019s grace. Therefore, I\u2019m looking for the kids to ask them forgiveness, I hope, in bearing fruit in keeping with genuine repentance. Daddy is confessing his sin, and giving them hugs and kisses, serving them with affection, because I treasure my relationship with them. Reasonable thinking puts on joy and self-giving, and puts off anger, arrogance, aloofness, anxiety, apathy, as being contrary to a life that is saturated in the glories of the gospel.<\/p>\n

Sadly, that wasn\u2019t happening in verse 2 with fellow believers Euodia and Syntyche, so much so that their stubborn rift had to be publicly addressed. With a gentle spirit, we\u2019ll discover that there is no fa\u00e7ade, no posturing, no insecurity, no anxiety about what people think of us, because God knows the worst of us and sent His Son for us!<\/p>\n

Make sure that <\/em>your character is free from greed, being content <\/u>with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (Heb 13:5-6)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If we believe that, then we\u2019re going to seek to be soft, winsome, vulnerable, healing, a relational red carpet, an attractive spirit, an inviting haven, not self-protecting, not fearful of getting hurt, but one that reaches out to the hurting in a spirit of humility and service.\u00a0 Otherwise, our bitter discontentment with God becomes both self-destructive and other defiling.<\/p>\n

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.\u00a0 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.\u201d (Heb 12:14-15)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unaddressed, people start walking on eggshells around us, wondering what little thing will set us off like a truckload of C4.\u00a0 Then feeling guilty when it does happen, we withdraw even more, and we deepen our suffering, becoming more bitter and more lonely. It unleashes a cascade of sad consequences, until we lose our witness, lose friends, and lose our bearing. But the good news is the sufficiency of Christ that undergirds right thinking that leads to joy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Pastor James Lee “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.\u00a0 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;\u00a0 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.\u00a0 And the peace of God, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13342"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13359,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13342\/revisions\/13359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}