Skip to main content

Body and Mind

             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. (Romans12:1-2)

            I’ve been thinking about prayer quite a bit. One of the things I’ve begun to do is to organize my prayer time. I begin with big categories: Church, Family, Community, Authorities, Enemies, and Myself. I’m working on subcategories, but the only one I’ve succeeded with is “Myself.” I use Dallas Willard’s model of a person: Heart/Spirit/Will, Mind/Thought/Emotions, Body, Relationships, and Soul. After that, I add things I have given to God: my house, garden, dog, truck, job, writing, etc.

I’m also starting to try to attach Scripture to these areas of prayer. Today’s passage addresses two: our bodies and our minds. For most of us, these are probably the toughest. We like to think we own our bodies – and in a sense, we do. But that sense doesn’t mean we can make up whatever rules we want. Our bodies were designed to function a certain way and when we violate that, our bodies suffer. Food is a huge area of difficulty for me. I know others who harm themselves with a variety of chemicals (e.g. cigarettes & alcohol.) Some folks damage their bodies in other ways, like not getting enough sleep, or not drinking enough water.

But if we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, we should work toward that sacrifice being acceptable. If you read about sacrifices in the Law, they weren’t allowed to be weak, sickly, or damaged. I have a LOT of work to do.

Our minds aren’t much better. I’ve read that back in the 1800s,  people would attend lectures, speeches, and debate that could last several hours, then go home and discuss  what was said. People used to memorize long stories and multiple books of the Bible. That might be a case of “When I was in school, I walked three miles through three feet of snow to get there.” But, according to one researcher, our attention span is now a little over 8 seconds, and I sometimes think mine is shorter than that. That doesn’t mean we can’t binge watch entertainment for12 hours, but it explains why I crochet or do plastic canvas or take notes while I’m supposed to be listening intently. Those things keep my mind focused enough to not wander too far afield. The distraction may be, “Squirrel!” or it might be a tangent like, “Hm, what’s the etymology of that word and where’s the verse that _____, oh, and who said something about-where’s that quote?” Of course, the distraction might be a knot in the yard, or a crochet hook hitting the floor for the second or third time.

Renewing our minds, our thoughts and our feelings, like any discipline, takes work. We’re back to the issue of developing good habits, and therefore good characters. I believe the Bible is the best resource for this, but whatever you decide to use to pattern your thinking  and  feelings, the more objective and connected to reality it is, the better. It does no one any good to insist that the universe be the way we want  it to.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more