Myriad Of Choices

Did you ever think about the way our brain works? I asked my daughter the other day.
She looked over at me as I was driving.
There is a myriad of decisions we make each day without even thinking about it.
Just now, I made quite a few.

We were driving on a four-lane road and I was in the left lane.
Ahead of me were three construction trucks.
I instantly decided to get over to the right lane and continue on.
After doing that, the trucks got into a turning lane to turn left.

I was able to safely get back into the left lane and travel down the road.
Insignificant to many, it caused me to stop and think.
I explained the whole scenario about the trucks and the lane change.
Even as I was making those decisions, I was singing along in my head.

Her music was playing and I happened to like the song so I sang along.
I made driving decisions, sang a song in my head, and drove a car.
I was thinking about dinner that night and something I needed to do the next day.
A myriad of thoughts and decisions simultaneously happening inside my head.

When we were at the restaurant, why did we choose our table over all the others?
Why did I face the window and you faced the people?
I was on a roll with my thoughts and she just looked incredulously in my direction.
I know it’s silly but these are the kind of things I think about.

My children know that about me after all these years.
My mind is a busy place.
My thought patterns make perfect sense to me.
To others, with more linear thinking, I am sure it is hard to keep up with their direction.

Dr. Ben Carson in his book, Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential For Excellence said:

First, we cannot overload the human brain. This divinely created brain has fourteen billion cells. If used to the maximum, this human computer inside our heads could contain all the knowledge of humanity from the beginning of the world to the present and still have room left over. Second, not only can we not overload our brain – we also know that our brain retains everything. I often use saying that “The brain acquires everything that we encounter.” The difficulty does not come with the input of information, but getting it out. Sometimes we “file” information randomly of little importance, and it confuses us.

The difficulty does not come with the input of information, but getting it out.
We are haphazard in our storage of information.
We multitask to the point of inefficiency.
The question begs to be asked: What kind of information are we putting into our brains?

Do we fill our minds with useless trivia?
Do we read things in bits and pieces, snippets here and there?
Do we get distracted, as we read online because of the peripheral stimulus?
Do we turn our attention to too many things and not ponder one thing well?

Why do we make the choices we make?
What directs those choices?
On what are we basing our thoughts?
Are we using our brains to their utmost capacity?

There is an historic African-American church in Charleston with roots back to 1816.
One of its founders organized a slave revolt in 1822.
When the man was caught, white landowners burned his church in revenge.
The congregants worshiped underground until the Civil War was over.

A tragedy happened in this same church in South Carolina.
A man entered the historic church in Charleston and sat among the congregation.
He stayed for at least an hour during their midweek prayer time and Bible study.
All at once, he opened fire, killing nine people including the pastor.

One of the bystanders behind the police barricade said more than she knew.
It’s like it’s just trying to strip away part of your faith, but it just makes you stronger.
The “it’s” she is talking about is the enemy of our souls.
She is right; what the enemy plans for evil, God intends for good.

We have at our disposal a myriad of choices.
We have at our disposal a myriad of choices that are marred by sin.
We all have a sin nature within us.
We battle with our sin nature every day.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
(1 Corinthians 10:3-5)

A manhunt is under way for the gunman.
Surveillance pictures show a white male who appears to be in his 20’s.
This is considered a hate crime.
A myriad of choices marred with sin.

All sin is a hate crime against God.

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-18)

That description is not only about the gunman.
That description is about all of us.
We are enemies of God.
On our own, we want nothing to do with Him.

But then, God.
God shows us His mercy.
God shows us His compassion.
God, in His grace, saves us through His Son, Jesus.

In order to have right thinking we need to fill our minds with Christ.
In order to make wise choices, we need to take every thought captive.
We need to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy: right thinking and right living.

We need Jesus.
We need Jesus not only in the midst of a tragedy, but also in our everyday lives.
We cannot do this life alone.
On our own, we have no fear of God and we have no desire to seek Him.

Input the right doctrine into your brain.
Fill your brain to capacity with thoughts of Christ.
The output will look vastly different.
Now it is possible, in our myriad of choices, to choose righteousness.

Without Christ, it is impossible to choose righteousness.
Input the right doctrine to get the output of right living.
We cannot overload the human brain.
Fill your mind with Christ.

 

2 responses to “Myriad Of Choices”

1. He is the only sure thing in this life. If we put ourselves in His control we will live an abundant life, secure in our salvation and giving our best to those around us.

   Reply

   • Sue,
     He is the One who enables us to make righteous choices. His Word is our plumb line against which we measure everything else.
     Gina

     Reply