Weighing And Thinking About

For those who have followed the blog for any time, you know that this is known as “A thought to ponder”.  Merriman-Webster tells us that to ponder is to weigh in the mind, to think about: reflect upon. Now, I must admit that it is something I do constantly. Even this morning I was working on a matter regarding a foundation board on which I serve. I was weighing what to do in the matter. Thinking about how the foundation could work in aiding a local church.  I think you get the idea and would say that you do the same on occasion.

Now there are many other things in the course of day I might find myself pondering. Now often as I ponder, I am thinking about the matter. Other times I am pondering as to what I need to do to fix the problem. In order to help you understand where I am, let me explain with a quick story. 

Years ago, Elaine was dealing with something and what it was is not important if you find yourself being nosey. As I am prone to do, I wanted to fix it for her. In her always loving way she said that it wasn’t something she needed me to fix, it was something she just needed me to listen. To this day, if there is something that comes up, I ask the question before she starts to tell me, “Am I listening or fixing?”.  Either way is good for me and as Phil Robertson reminded us all, “happy wife, happy life”.

There is so much that we are exposed to these days. Locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Whether political, economic, societal or on the spiritual front, it seems as though that the more we know the worse it is. Most of what bothers people is not of their own making. It is the outside world that is causing them problems.  Now we all know that is true, but it is not the knowing but how we process that information.

We can let things bother us that are external, or we can allow ourselves to react to it.  Here is a simple example from my own experience. I am a sports fan in the broadest sense. I enjoy different sports, and I play golf but other than that I really am not that involved in watching games on TV. Sunday afternoon after church I was watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Now if you are a fan, you know that they could not score from the one-yard line after successive attempts. Even to miss the opportunity for field goal attempt. I lost it. I was so infuriated that I got up and ranted a moment or two. Elaine was amazed and I was too even more so than her. Now they ended up winning the game. I ended up taking a nap and eating dinner and could have done so without getting so upset.

There are so many things happening around us that we have no control over. We are caught up in what is happening, but we control how we react. That is not the easiest thing for us to do. We must learn to control ourselves and only respond when it is unnecessary.

Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV tells us-

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

As believers, the fruit of the Spirit is evident in our lives. Yet it is common for us to struggle in this regard. There is a conflict we all contend with, and it is what Paul talks about earlier in verse 19-21 when he tells us-

 ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 

²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 

²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We need to remember daily that as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV-

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

So as Christians we are in what we often refer to as spiritual warfare. We have commented on that in previous blogs. They are real but not everything is spiritual warfare. Rather, they are things that are common to us. Things happen and we must respond but how we respond is our choice. As Paul says in Galatians 5 in the verses we mentioned earlier, there is the battle of the sinful flesh against the new nature given by Christ.

Life is hard and yet we can and should enjoy as Christians all the benefits of the fruits of the spirit as we saw today. We certainly should not respond to life as Paul spoke about in verses 19-21 we read earlier.

So, each remember the promise of God’s Word found in Philippians 4:13 NKJV-

¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Always read and then weigh and think about that in the first person. Because I know I can do all things and so can you, through Christ who strengthens us all.

In God’s Grace,

Elbert Nasworthy