“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; for he is faithful that promised“ Heb 10:23
What
keeps your mind on track? We’re all
familiar with the friendly question or gesture…”What’s on your mind?” But this can
be a very important question and not one to be taken so lightly. The mind can be illustrated by using the
image of a train. Consider a train car of our “Thoughts” that are hitched to a
car of “Emotions”, which is hitched to a car of “Hope”, which is all attached
to the engine of “Faith.” It would work like this…the engine that pulls the
mind in a given direction is Faith, always wanting to pull you towards what is
a trustworthy and wholesome destination to believe in. Hitched to the engine of Faith is the car of
Hope; if our engine of Faith is pulling us towards a destination that appears
promising (near of distant future) we feel Hopeful. Right behind the car of Hope is the car of
Emotions and like life our emotions fall right behind our level of hope and
directly affect our attitude and hope towards our destination. Then the last car is our conscious Thoughts, those
things that occupy our mind at the moment. If we are Hopeful then our Emotions
are happy and the outcomes of our Thoughts are enthusiastic. However, most people ride in the cars of
Emotions and Thoughts rather than the Engine of Faith. So when we find ourselves like Martha, “troubled about many things” (Lk 10:41)
we have to realize we have a directional issue.
Meaning we are not in the Faith car, thus our cars of Emotions and Thoughts
are directing our path instead. That’s why the Bible addresses our emotional
and thoughtful state by directing our minds towards Faith; “…think on these things” (Phl 4:8). That’s
why Bible reading and prayer are so important, it directs our Engine of Faith
in the right direction based on a promised Hope, not our Emotions and Thoughts. If you’ve lost Hope, make sure you’re riding in
the right car and not seated in your Emotions and Thoughts.
HSAY…Todds
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