Are your thoughts Biblical on vacation or whenever?
7/16/2008
I just returned from our annual vacation in Idaho with my family. We spent one July 4th in Tucson with the temperature at around 100° even during the night fireworks. Thus, we have been journeying back to Idaho on the 4th ever since! Anyway, since Idaho Falls is a small community (and has temperatures that are reasonable), it has what I feel an Independence Day celebration was meant to have - a parade in the morning that most the city is in or turns out for, American flags in abundance, and get-togethers throughout the day that anyone is welcomed at. The day ends with about everyone down by the river to celebrate our country, with the biggest fireworks display (I hear) west of the Mississippi River.
It seems sensible to think that all vacations are like life, and are full of trials. Yet, I found myself very thrown off (you know, those bad attitudes, and gimpy- whining words) by the inconveniences, the disagreements, the plans going wrong and so on. Then I realized I had this unbiblical preconceived idea that God should and would stop the trials in my life, so I can have complete rest and relaxation on our vacation. In other words, I thought I had every right to have a prefect vacation so when things went wrong, instead of asking God to empower me to deal with them in a godly manner, I got bent out of joint. This is pretty embarrassing, because if I had let His Word lead me, I know trials are a part of life and God uses them for our good (Romans 8:28-39).
Do you find yourself feeling the same way? Or I should say, do you find yourself thinking something is true about God that isn’t? What we need to do (and do it more quickly than I did) is constantly (not just daily) ask God to examine our thoughts by His Word. This is to make sure we are thinking and then doing what God wants instead of what we think He wants. (Read Psalm 119:105, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 & Romans 12:2.)
Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24 (GNT)
Because of God’s Word, Gini