To Think or Feel This Instant!

I like to know stuff. 

I like to know the number of people in a crowded room, the number of calories in my food, the number of dollars I’m saving when something is a certain percentage off. I may be a bit OCD, but I don’t think I’m alone in my quest to know stuff, numbers or not. We seek knowledge as though our lives depend on it. Some are voracious readers, others are voracious talkers (you know who you are) – all in an effort to gain or exchange data. Information. Fuel for our fires to keep us moving forward in this life, to make wise decisions, to become more well-rounded people.

But when it comes to matters of the heart, I am idle. It seems my feelings happen TO me, not as a result of any effort on my part to pursue them. Someone compliments me? Happiness. Someone ignores me? Hurt. Someone smiles at me? Warm fuzzies. Someone criticizes me? Hurt again. All throughout the day, it seems my feelings are handed to me. And so my life becomes a rollercoaster of feelings that merely respond to what I’m given by factors outside of my control.

These are fleshly ways of living in the natural world. But what if the spiritual could infuse the natural? What if instead of diligently pursuing earthly knowledge with our intellect, we chose to ask and wait for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the thoughts of God? What if we carved out time and space, silence and stillness to listen to Him as we seek not our own wisdom, but His? 

And what if instead of waiting passively for “good feelings” to be handed to us by the people in our lives, we instead pursued inner joy, abundant love, and consistent contentment in Christ as though our lives depended on it? What if matters of the soul became our priority? How might life begin to change for us, and how much might we begin to change for life?

“All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.” – 2 Chronicles 9:23

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33