It's All in the Mind

August, 2006

by: Tim Carns

It’s Sunday morning. Your family drill is in full swing. Dad knows (to the exact minute) how long it takes to get to church and is trying to round up the troops into the family vehicle. Meanwhile Junior is still in his pajamas while your oldest hasn’t quite decided which shoes would go best with her outfit. Mom is just getting to her breakfast after cleaning up the cereal which Baby had urped all over the floor. Your family is finally able to pull out of the drive way exactly 6 minutes past schedule. Dad figures he can make up a couple of minutes by careful timing of the stoplights and moving just a “little” faster than normal. On the way, intervention is required between two siblings who are arguing over who gets to sit next to the baby. Dad tries to mediate this latest dispute, all the while concentrating on shaving precious seconds from the transit time to church. Mom would help with arbitration but she is too busy cleaning up the baby’s second urping of the morning now running down the seat onto the floor. As Dad fulfills the dual role of taxi driver and court appointed attorney he glances in the mirror to notice that though Junior was out of his pajamas he forgot to comb his hair which looks like the Statue of Liberty’s crown. Arbitration ends with amazing swiftness as Judge Dad proclaims, “Stop arguing and somebody comb Junior’s hair!”

The church building is now in view. As Dad takes pride in the four minutes that he’s shaved off the commute when Mom reminds him of lunch with the Nelson’s after church. The family pulls into the parking lot, finds a space and gets into church halfway through the first song. As you file into the pew and plop down, Dad is thinking, “Not too bad,” regarding his valiant effort at saving travel time. Mom is happy to be out of the morning chaos and in the peace of church, the two siblings are still sneering at one another from their morning battle, Junior is busy messing up his recently combed hair, and Baby is getting ready to launch a third salvo of spit-up on the church hymnal.

Does this sound familiar? Maybe you don’t have a large family or a mini-van. But, aren’t there those days when you get to church completely distracted from why you are there? I have them—more often than I care to admit. It is so easy to let the events of the morning or plans for later in the day draw our minds away from what God wants us to be doing when we are gathered with fellow believers.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, last month we saw from Romans 12:10 (“be devoted to one another in brotherly love”) that God wants us to treat one another, not in cold-hearted duty, but with the tender affection that one gives to a dear family member. You should strive to minister to one another, not because you have to but because you want to out of love. But, having this brotherly devotion is only one side of the coin. You must also be proactive to put away any distractions and focus on how you can minister to one another. Hebrews 10:24-25 articulates this point as it says, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” Here believers are commanded to carefully consider how they may provoke other believers to love and good deeds. The word for consider gives the idea of more than just to casually think about or just to give a moment of attention. It means to “notice, carefully observe, reflect, contemplate, think about carefully.” As we enter the doors of church (or any time we gather with other believers) this text calls us to put aside all distractions and be focused on how we may help others in their walk with Christ by provoking them to love and good deeds.

Like our dear family rushing off to church there are things which draw your attention away as you gather with fellow believers. What is it that you are thinking about as you sit down in the pew? As you glance at the others seated near you are you considering ways in which you will try to stimulate them to love? Before you arrived, did you have someone in mind that you wanted to talk with to encourage them in the Lord? What were your thoughts dwelling on last Sunday when you came to church? If you find yourself not considering how to stimulate others to love and good deeds then you need to change your mindset as you enter. The following ideas may help:

Before you enter church (or any gathering with believers) pray for God to settle your mind and heart to focus on Him and His people. Spending a minute praying with the family in the car before you get out will help. Ask the Lord to bring someone to mind that you can minister to.

Try to give yourself enough time so that you aren’t rushed in getting there. Put Hebrews 10:24-25 to memory so that the Holy Spirit can bring it to mind.

These are just some ways to apply Hebrews 10:24-25 as you gather with fellow believers. There may be some of you who don’t have trouble with the focusing part but aren’t confident in how to go about provoking someone else to love and good deeds. One thing you can do is to ask others how you could be praying for them. Next month we’ll cover some more practical ideas. Until then, don’t let your mind wander .