Kick Back, Look Up and THINK!
Have you noticed that there are few great "thinkers" in America today? It seems that we put a premium on doing and not on thinking. I heard a story once of a person who was being shown around a great business that occupied a skyscraper in a major city. It seemed that on every floor and in every office people were scurrying around or pounding at computer keyboards or locked in intense discussions during meetings. As they passed one office with the door slightly open, the guest noticed a man leaning back in his chair, with his feet propped on his desk, gazing out the window. He couldn't help but ask why this would be allowed in the midst of such frenetic activity. In answer, his guide said, "Oh, that is Mr. "So and So". He is thinking. One day when he was doing that he came up with an idea that has made the company twenty million dollars, so no one bothers him when he is thinking."
God gave us minds. He intends for us to use them. When we do He often gives us fresh insight into life. If we spend all of our time on activity or entertainment, we cut off the creative part of our being and rarely come up with anything fresh and new.
The church is like that in many ways. We program to keep people busy. If we are in a prayer gathering and there is more than 60 seconds of silence, we assume that nothing is happening and begin to blurt out "prayers" that have no thought behind them. When God wanted to get Moses ready to lead the Israelites out or Egypt, He took him to the back side of the desert with no one but sheep to interact with. It was there that God shaped Moses into the leader He needed. When Elijah faces "burn-out" after his Mt. Carmel experience, God took him to the desert to sleep, eat and rest. Later Elijah was given the greatest assignment of his life. When the disciples of Jesus came back from one of their mission trips, Jesus took them aside to a lonely place to decompress.
Perhaps it is time to schedule "thinking" time into our lives. We might just hear from God.
God gave us minds. He intends for us to use them. When we do He often gives us fresh insight into life. If we spend all of our time on activity or entertainment, we cut off the creative part of our being and rarely come up with anything fresh and new.
The church is like that in many ways. We program to keep people busy. If we are in a prayer gathering and there is more than 60 seconds of silence, we assume that nothing is happening and begin to blurt out "prayers" that have no thought behind them. When God wanted to get Moses ready to lead the Israelites out or Egypt, He took him to the back side of the desert with no one but sheep to interact with. It was there that God shaped Moses into the leader He needed. When Elijah faces "burn-out" after his Mt. Carmel experience, God took him to the desert to sleep, eat and rest. Later Elijah was given the greatest assignment of his life. When the disciples of Jesus came back from one of their mission trips, Jesus took them aside to a lonely place to decompress.
Perhaps it is time to schedule "thinking" time into our lives. We might just hear from God.
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