Reminders: Inside-Out Thinking

Two teenagers were at the mall killing time until they could go see a movie at the adjoining theater.  One said to the other, “Let’s buy popcorn and candy at the grocery store before we go.  It’ll be a lot cheaper.”  To which the other teen said, “Haven’t you seen the sign at the theater saying, “NO OUT-SIDE FOOD IN THE THEATER?”  To which the first teen answered, “Yes, but we are already inside the mall, so technically, it would be “inside food”.

Whenever we hear, “Yes, but…” it might be a clue that someone might be trying to use a technicality to justify less than perfect reasoning.  It is not unusual to think that there might a way around the rules to do what we want to do.  Sometimes we try to justify unseemly behavior by saying, “Yes, but everyone else is doing it.”  Of course, the problem with that is that as Christians, we are to be set apart from the world.

Jesus set the example for us to follow.  The bumper-sticker/bracelet movement of a few years ago asking, “What would Jesus do?” is a good reminder of what we should think before we act.  Just because social “norms” seem to have accepted certain behaviors, that does not mean we should accept such behavior as appropriate for us. 

Thinking from inside our own desires is the opposite of how God has commanded us to think.  We are to think outside of ourselves to know what is right. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 

We are to turn to God in prayer, to look in the scriptures and to heed the advice of the mature Christians God has put into our lives.  If we think from inside our own reasoning, we might be looking for loopholes to get us what we want, but if we think from God’s perspective we will know what is right and good in His sight. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7