| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself” Our Bible verse for today: “My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands; for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being. Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.” Proverbs 3:1-4 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Find the balance between your head and your heart.” As we conclude our discussion about how it is that a cult of personality mindset can have a negative impact and lead us to poor decision-making, we also need to appreciate the need for balance between our mind and our heart. On the one hand, it is important to consider how our closest and most trusted friends and associates think and feel about a subject. If they’re good people with strong minds and they are spiritually mature, then how they see the situation does matter and should be considered. However, on the other hand, that still doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility to think for ourselves by engaging in critical thinking. Last Sunday at church the lesson in the adult Sunday School Quarterly was about this very subject. The writer of our lesson quoted Proverbs 3:1-4 and then observed: “Solomon urged his son: don’t forget my teaching. This was a call to use the mind and intellect. Then he added, let your heart keep my commands. Added to the call to exercise the mind is the call to heart (the will and emotion). Both the mind and the heart matter. The mind without the heart characterizes a person who is unfeeling and dispassionate. The heart without an informed mind can lead to experiential chaos. Solomon’s injunction to be wise combined both the head and the heart, the intellect and the will, thought and emotion. Jesus made the same connection between the head and the heart when He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37, see also Deut. 6:5). The connection between the head and the heart is vital to good decision-making. We need to pay attention to both. Feelings and emotions do matter, but so do thought and intellect. As has already been noted in previous devotionals, our feelings and emotions are often heavily influenced by those around us, sometimes for good but also sometimes for bad, and therefore they need to be balanced with good critical thinking skills. Don’t ignore what others are thinking and feeling, but also don’t allow yourself to be swept up and carried away by it either. Think for yourself. Find the balance between your head and your heart. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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