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WHO/WHAT SHAPES YOUR VALUES?
by willetta pilcher The television? The government? The computer? Magazines? Music? Friends? Your peers? Your parents? A teacher/coach? The gang? Your pastor? The scripture? Often we hear, "I do." "Do you now?" "I'm my own person!" "Really?" Tell me what you give your mental capacity to each day and I will tell you who/what shapes your values! Mat 22:37 "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and WITH ALL THY MIND." WHY? What difference does it make? Your mind is the faculty of consciousness and thought. Everything that pertains unto life is filtered through the mind. It is a scary thought to think how much of our thoughts are shaped by the world around us. To the degree that a person surrenders their minds to ... to that degree the mind is shaped by those thoughts. Thus Paul states in Rom 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. " And in Php 2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" Christians like to talk about having the "mind of Christ,' but how does one have the mind of Christ when He is but a passing thought on Sunday morning? Little time is spent, by most, in the scriptures. How then can one say they have the mind of Christ and be honest about it? Romans 1:21 niv gives us insight... "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." It is a scary thought to think how much of our thoughts are shaped by the world around us. To the degree that a person gives their minds to the thoughts of the world... to that degree the mind is shaped by those thoughts... and life is then shaped by those thoughts. Rom 1:28 niv "... just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God [to think like God and agree with God], so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done." Do you ever wonder why the world is in the shape it is in? I'm sure you do. But when the philosophies of the world shapes the thinking of the world, why do we wonder? One of the reasons God destroyed the world in Noah's day was because Gen 6:5 niv "The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." Benjamin Franklin said, "Give me 26 soldiers of lead and I will conquer the world." He knew that a printing press had more power than loaded guns when it came to revolution. So did Karl Marx. The printed/spoken word is a powerful medium. So, who has your mind? Depends on whose message you give ear to... be it fact or fiction! Willetta has spent most of her life ministering to people. In her late seventies, and a wheelchair now her mode of travel, she now ministers to people through the internet. Her webs are... www.teachmethyways.org www.successwithkids.org www.theseedsower.org Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |