A Wasted Mind Can Be Transformed

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste” is a slogan coined by Arthur Fletcher, the former head of the United Negro College Fund.

A mind is a terrible thing for anyone waste especially if the mind is focused on murder.

Last Sunday, a man with serious mental health issues walked into a church meeting and opened fire on those gathered there. Sadly, this act of murder was the product of a long journey: arrest for abusive actions, dishonorable discharge from the service, incarceration, mental health treatment. Even though the man had his problems addressed, they were not resolved.

From a Christian point of view this act of murder began in the man’s mind. The sixth commandment tells us, "You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13). But keeping the sixth commandment in the letter, literally not committing the act of murder, is only the first line of defense against this sin.

Jesus Christ explained that the sixth commandment is to be kept not only in the letter, but in the spirit. Christ explains the full application of the sixth commandment in Matthew 5:21-22, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Christ is saying that murder begins in the heart with anger and hatred. When anger and hatred reside in a person’s heart they eventually burst forth in derogatory words and eventually into murderous actions.

Jesus described the point of origin of murder and other sins in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

Evil thoughts, fueled by unresolved anger, fester in a person’s mind until murder seems to be the obvious course of action.

Recently our nation has been plagued by a couple of mass murders. Why? Because something has gone very wrong in the minds of those who have perpetrated the slaughter of their fellow man.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste on hatred and rage that manifests in murder. Imagine the bondage and turmoil of someone with this mindset.

Jesus Christ came to set us at liberty from such life-destroying thinking. Christ’s work is to set us free from unresolved anger and hatred. As Christians we are told, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). It would seem that the man who murdered the church-goers was entangled in a yoke of bondage.

Following Christ’s example and admonition, we can forgive those who have sinned against us (Matthew 6:14-15). Instead of nursing anger toward another, we can forgive them of their sin and allow God to deal with the sinner in his mercy and wisdom. We don’t have to carry the burden of anger and vengeance.

In harmony with Christ’s teaching Paul tells us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In other words, as we humble ourselves before God, we can reject the worldly way of anger and hatred, and be renewed in godly thinking.

Thankfully, the path that is “good and acceptable” and in perfect harmony with God’s will is available to us as followers of Jesus Christ.

Additionally, we know that there will come a time when the young man with the mind so twisted by hatred will be able to enjoy the liberty we now enjoy. At that time his mind will no longer be wasted by anger and hatred.

It is why we pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 5:10).

Have a pleasant Sabbath,

Gary Smith

Feeling What Not Having Hope Feels Like

A prominent politician made an interesting comment a couple
of weeks ago. The politician said, “We are feeling what not
having hope feels like.”

Why is this person lacking in hope? Her hopelessness comes
as a result of her political party losing in the November
election. With the election of someone that they heartily
disagree with, they feel that the policies conducive to hope
will be cast aside.

On the other side of the political spectrum, there is great hope
that “America will be made great again”. The sad reality is
that hope springs forth every time there is an election. The
winning voters always seem to hope that good things lie
ahead. As the hopes of the winning side in the election are not
met, there will be great disappointment over the failure to
deliver on the promises made to the voters.

The reality is that no matter the politician, his followers are
bound to be disappointed. The hopelessness of trusting
politicians and their offer for humanity is brought out in
Psalms 118:9, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in princes.”

Whereas man is limited and uncertain, God is not. God is the
same “Yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). We can
always be assured that God is there and He will always act in
our best interest even if His response is not what we want.

Let’s consider a couple of scriptures that lay out for us the
panorama of hope which is what prophecy is all about.
Through these scriptures, we can see why for God’s people
there is always hope.

The panorama begins in Genesis with the sins of Adam and
Eve. As God spelled out in Genesis 2, in the day in which
Adam or Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
they would die. Death is an inevitable outcome of sin.

With death hanging over the lives of the first couple, it might
be said, “They were feeling what not having hope feels like.”

However, one of God’s first actions after sin entered the world
is found in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." God was
telling the first man and woman that a seed would come who
would work out the problem of sin.

The scripture in Genesis seems pretty obscure until God fills
in more details about the coming, Seed, Jesus Christ, who
would open the way to salvation for all mankind.

What is to be ultimately be worked out by the Seed, Jesus
Christ, is detailed in Acts 3:19-21, “Repent therefore and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that
He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all
things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began.”

God, through Peter, tells us that as promised from the time of
the first sin there is coming a time when all things will be
restored to the way God always intended them to be. We are
reassured that there is always hope for this sin sick world
through Jesus Christ the Messiah.

The Bible reassures us of the fulfillment of this promise from
Genesis all the way to the end of Bible in Revelation.

Human beings lose hope because things don’t work out the
way they want them to.

But God is our hope no matter what is going on in our lives or
in the world around us. As the Psalmist says, “For You are my
hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth (Psalms
71:5).

Have a most enjoyable Sabbath because we always have hope.

Gary Smith