Wednesday, March 26th (Lent #19)

1 Peter 1:1-25 The Living Hope

"Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves;" (1 Peter 1:13a, NRSV)

Luminosity, FitBrain, Happy-Neuron, and SharpBrain are all services that provide games and exercises that workout the brain. Sounds kind of funny to me, yet most experts agree that exercising the brain is just as important (if not more so) as exercising the body. So things like memory games, crossword puzzles, Bridge, Chess, and even yoga or Tai Chi can affect our cognitive abilities, help us in memory function and can even ward off dementia and Alzheimers. 

Maybe that's why I feel the need to play Solitaire and Words With Friends? 

I do believe, though, that there is something to this brain-thing, and it is more than just fitness, it's focus.

Training our brains how to think is not exactly the same as deciding what to think and the what is more important than anything else.

Jesus was asked once what the most important commandment was. “He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”” (Matthew 22:37–40, CEB)

 

Love God...with all your mind. It's the first commandment (Ex.20:1), a key teaching of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5) and the most important thing Jesus taught. Peter taught the same thing, "prepare your minds." 

It's not just a function during Lent, but a practice during this season that takes us through the rest of the year and our whole lives. It is the kind of fitness our brains really need, to shape the mind...on God! 

This is where I struggle the most, to keep focused. You might think that as a pastor my life is all about Jesus, focused on prayer, worship songs playing in our home throughout the day. But it's not like that. (maybe it should be, but it's not.) It's easy when doing my taxes, paying the bills, waiting in traffic, shopping for groceries (or anything else), (or where "real" life doesn't seem to connect with the "spiritual" life) to lose my focus; to begin to worry about money, retirement, the health of my family, you name it. 

It's up to us. We choose what we think about; what our minds focus on. We choose what we put into them and what comes out (you've probably heard the term, garbage in/garbage out). What we watch on TV and the movies, what we read, the conversations we engage in, all affect our mind. 

This season we need to heed Peter's words more than ever, through a daily scripture, prayer, meditation, devotion, reading books on Christian topics, etc. but not to fend off dementia, rather to stay true to Jesus! 

Keep a Holy Lent!

Peace ><>

Pastor Chris