Saturday, December 6, 2014

Thinking and Turning

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” (Psalm 119:59)

         “I took a good look at myself and didn’t like what I saw.” Someone I know once made this honest admission to me, and he or she was not speaking of an image in a mirror but a reflection of his or her spiritual life. Very much like the prophet Isaiah’s reaction when he got a good look at himself: “Woe is me! For I am undone” (6:5). It’s easy to drift downstream without taking time to notice in which direction we’re heading, only to wake up one morning to realize we aren’t at all where we wanted to be. And we ask ourselves, “What was I thinking?”

         That’s just it; we probably weren’t thinking at all. You see, the Christian life requires consideration. Not the feverish introspection of a neurotic, just deliberate, thoughtful reflection. How important is the Word of God in my life? Do I have a healthy aversion to sin? Am I maintaining fellowship with other believers who encourage me in the things of the Lord? Am I under sound Bible preaching? And, most important of all, is there a clear line open between Heaven and me?

         Even the Psalmist had to stop and think; and when he did, he says, he turned. Ah, now that’s where the rubber meets the road. He turned his feet—not just his heart—back to the Word of God. And in the next verse, he tells us he didn’t let any grass grow under them before he did. “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.”  Charles Spurgeon, commenting on this verse, observes, “Action without thought is folly; thought without action is sloth. To think carefully and act promptly is a happy combination.”

 Make no mistake; all through our Christian lives we will need to “think on our ways.” Christianity is a thinking man’s (and woman’s) religion. It’s not lived on the fly—or at least, not well. Take time to think; and when necessary, turn your heart, and your feet, back to the testimonies of God. 


  The measure of our spiritual immaturity is how long we stay out of fellowship.  

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