Tethering Our Thoughts

“My friends, God has chosen you to be his holy people. So think about Jesus, the one we call our apostle and high priest!” Hebrews 3:1

I think about a lot of things. I have a mind that keeps spinning, chugging away like a perpetual motion machine. If my thoughts became visible, they would look like some Rube Goldberg creation. The first few motions of thought would seem sensible, but after a few moments the connection between the first and latest thought is lost.

Start me down the road with the day’s agenda and I’ll mean to stick to it. But a certain way the shadows fall across the dewy grass may evoke an instantaneous thought of walking to school as a ten-year-old. Then I am wondering whatever happened to Greg and Don, and especially Mary Sue. I might consider looking them up in Facebook, open my account, and catch my daughter’s newest status.

Perhaps it’s a mysterious, “Life isn’t what I planned”, and suddenly Greg, Don and Mary Sue are long gone and I’m chasing the ghosts of my daughter’s unhappy lot. She must be struggling, school is too hard, she is not making friends, I didn’t work hard enough to find her a place she would like, I wish she was closer, I wish I was a better dad, I wonder if people think I’m a good dad, I wonder if people think I’m a good pastor, I really should  visit more people, I get so anxious trying to see new people, I’m not a good pastor, I should write in my blog more often, I don’t write that well, nobody reads it, plus writing takes away from my time trying to be a pastor, I wish I could get paid to write, no, that would take away my time from being a pastor, I wonder what my wife is doing for lunch, I wonder if there are leftovers at home, I wish we could afford to go out more often, if I was a better pastor the church would grow and we would have more people attending and they could give me a raise, then we could go out more often.

So, the shadows on the lawn take me to wondering how I can earn more money; or something like that. We all have minds that wander. That is part of our makeup. And it can be used to great creative purposes; this potent power of thought.

It is not unusual, then, that Scripture instructs us to direct our thoughts in a certain direction. What we think about directly affects our moods, emotions and actions! I admit it, given free rein my own thoughts tend to drag me downwards. I will take the darker detour down imagination’s path nearly every time. But that’s just me.

Other people may fantasize themselves ruler over kingdoms. For some their thoughts arrive at violent destinations. Another turns to lust, and another suspicion. Without some sort of anchor our thoughts run free with little tie to truth or even facts.

That is why Scripture says, “So think about Jesus.” Now I have a focus. Rather than synapses firing at will through the mental fog, I can choose to direct my thoughts to Christ; all the more so as I take to heart that I am indeed “God’s chosen” and part of His “holy people.” Unattached to any moorings at all and our minds begin a freefall of their own creation.

But, realizing we are God’s chosen reins in our wayward notions. If we expected the worst, we remember we are chosen by God Himself. If we imagine ourselves always in the limelight, we may need to remind ourselves we are part of an entire group called His “holy people”. If we are open to it, nearly every passage of Scripture reminds us not only of our connection to Christ, but our connection to each other. How in the world do people really think they can serve Christ alone?

We are never called God’s chosen “person”. It is always in the plural. We are meant to live out this wonderful connection to Jesus interlocked with others who also are holy and chosen. Throw away church and you throw away the deepest experiences you can have. Giving up on church because “I’ve been hurt there”, is like saying that families never work because “I’ve seen brothers and sisters mistreat each other.”

Of course we have. Families wrangle about all sorts of issues. But we have few other options. So, we work at our families. God has given us few options outside the church as well. The church is His plan, not ours. We may “do church” poorly, but “being church” is how God desires us to grow.

It is there, as well, that we allow others to encourage our upward thinking; as this verse says, to think about Jesus our “Apostle” and “High Priest.” I know, these are religious words that may have little meaning to our secular minds.

An apostle is one “sent” to others with a particular message. Think about the sheer joy of knowing that Jesus is God’s “sent one” to us. He came from God to humanity with the clear message of forgiveness and reconciliation. Tether your mind to such wonderful news!

Jesus is also our High Priest. He not only brought the news of God’s forgiveness, but He was the Priest who administered the sacrifice that provided it. As well as being the Sacrifice Himself, the Lamb of God, slain before the foundations of the world, He is the Priest who stands in our place before God. The High Priest entered into the presence of God, stood between the people and God, and finally, declared to the people God’s forgiveness. Jesus is the One and Only High Priest for all mankind. Secure your wandering feelings to such a wonderful truth.

Our thoughts matter, they really do. But if they are left unchecked they take us into dangerous territory. Centered on the beautiful truth that Jesus is the One bringing the Good News of God’s forgiveness refocuses our minds. We come back to center where the onslaught of miscreant thoughts can no longer assail. We are indeed chosen and holy, because Jesus is our Apostle and High Priest.