“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” Philippines 2:5 NKJ

Years ago, I found myself feeling adrift in my relationship with God. I was sad. I was depressed. I was somewhat angry. I longed for the Lord to put my heart back right again.

The Lord in His abundant faithfulness understood every bit of this, and drew near to me. I could not get out of my mind a desire to meditate on Jesus, on His words and how He thought about things and processed loss and suffering. I remembered hearing of friends, who, every New Year’s Eve would read aloud the ‘Red Letters” of Christ from the gospels. I had always wondered how the gospels would read without the surrounding narratives, getting right to the heart of what was actually on the mind of Jesus?

I began thinking I would get through in just a few days. Little did I realize, that even from the first those red letters would hit like a sledge hammer, stripping away SO much of what I had allowed to seep into my soul, my world view, my attitudes. My opinions and my rights to them.

Jesus, who is the Word of God, bringing correction to the mindsets of His generation, was also correcting me. Love your enemy. Do not speak contemptuously of others. Do no quarrel with those who oppose you. Pray for those who hurt you.

I was reminded that Jesus’s way to victory is different to the world. In the Kingdom, the way to up…is down. To greatness? Humble service. The first are last and the last are first. Forgive, and forgive and forgive again. Do not worry about tomorrow. Live in the present and trust God.

His way of thinking was pure, cleansing and terrifying. Cleansing in that I felt my bad attitudes, once revealed, washed away in the tears of repentance. Terrifying in that I had allowed my heart to gather so much wrong thinking.

I was reminded that the Lord views all things so differently than we do. In Isaiah 55:9, the Lord says, “For even as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Jesus! Help me, again, Lord, to see things from Your perspective. To live in obedience to Your commands. It’s time to think again.

~ Debbie Ecker