Thought Life

God brings people into our lives to reveal to us the conditioning of our own hearts. Sounds so simple, but the implications are so profound. Has someone ever told you something, and immediately your mind concocts an interpretation that soundly justifies why you think what you think? Sure. We all have right? But have you ever really thought about why we think the way we do? Have you ever thought about why two people can look at the same thing and have entirely different thoughts about it? Some may argue that we’re all just wired differently and we all have unique outlooks; which is true, but again, have you ever thought about, “Why?”

It has all to do with patterns. We think the way we do because we observe certain things and we tie those observations to past outcomes. For example, a friend of mine says to me, “Man I am drunk out of my mind but I think I can drive home ok.” Now, because I've known people who have died in car crashes because of driving drunk, immediately the thought patterns in my mind start to assimilate data from the past and draws me a new conclusion based on that, coupled with the current situation. That’s why I would say, “No dred, I’ll drop you home”, assuming I’m not drunk too.

But really, it’s that simple. We make decisions based on things we have observed in the past. These same observations form the thought patterns in our minds. These observations can be what we’ve seen others do, but also what we have done ourselves. This explains why we sometimes think everyone is a liar, because either we’ve been lied to a lot in the past, or we were the one doing all the lying. It’s not rocket science, the thought patterns have to come from somewhere. I know for me, I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and it really messes with my mind sometimes. How do you trust someone when all the patterns in your mind point to, “Liar.”? Ha. Then there’s that part of us that screams, “I REFUSE GET HURT!” So we build fortresses with our thoughts patterns, and say, “If it quacks like a duck, then it is definitely a duck.” No questions asked.

There is a particular passage in the Bible that I struggle with almost daily:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Actually, I think it’s a wonderful couple of verses, right up until verse 7! What is with that, “bears, believes, hopes and endures all things!?” What the hell? Are you kidding me!? Who in their right mind could believe everything another person has to say, especially when we have already formulated thought patterns based on things we have observed already!? Yet, apparently this type of love is all that matters to God… Forget tithes and offerings, forget having strong faith, forget how smart we think we are! Love! Love, dred.

It makes me think now… did Jesus love his disciple Peter any less even after knowing Peter would deny him not once, but three times? Did Jesus say, “Well, Peter quacked like a duck, so that makes him a duck?” Or, did Jesus still sacrifice His life for Peter's, and ours?

It is impossible for me to love like the verses above tell me to love, at least on my own; it’s just not human. I can’t do it simply because my mind has already developed thought patterns based on the things I’ve observed. Really, it’s a hopeless situation. I can’t fix a flawed mind… BUT, I can get a new one. Philippians 2:5 tells me to let the mind of Christ govern my life; the same mind that allowed Jesus to sacrifice Himself for a lying Peter. This goes against everything the patterns in MY mind might say. In MY mind I’m thinking how vulnerable this could make me, after all I can’t let anyone take advantage of me… The mind of Christ, ay? Ha. But then again…, who in the world can say they have taken advantage of Jesus Christ?