Desires or Dreads?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"What the wicked dread will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted." Proverbs 10:24

"He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it." Proverbs 11:27

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life." Charles Swindoll

We Are What We Think A century ago, William James wrote "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." Since then, science has reaffirmed scripture's affirmation that attitudes shape lives as much as lives shape attitudes. It is literally true that "what you think you become." but what we become also shapes what we desire--or what we dread.

We Reap What we Dread. All religions and philosophies, and even psychology, admit that we reap what we sow. If we sow evil, we will live with the dread of sooner or later reaping the consequences. No matter how "great" we may become, those who do wrong are like "grass that will soon wither" (Psalm37:1,2).

The Two Remedies to Dread. The only ways to eliminate the dread of reaping the harvest of our actions are 1), cease doing evil and 2) start doing good--though this is easier said than done.

Eliminate or Supplant We cannot cease thinking and doing, any more than a Zen monks can think of nothing (as soon as they realize they've achieved thoughtlessness, they are thinking). But even if we could cease thinking and doing evil, it would not be enough.

We cannot simply "do no evil," anymore than a Zen monk can think of nothing. But while we cannot cease evil, we can supplant evil by "delighting in the Lord," and filling our minds and lives with the good written about in Phil. 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair, whatever is pure, whatever is acceptable, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy-keep thinking about these things." ISV.

The Righteous Delight and Receive. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4" Delight" does not mean to simply delight in His existence, and to mouth praise, but to delight in serving Him. "Obedience is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam. 15:22).

Sacrifice of the Righteous: Transformation of Minds Paul says to "present our bodies as living sacrifices" for service. Rom. 12:1. Romans 12:2 follows this with, "Do not be conformed to this world, but continually be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God's will is-what is proper, pleasing, and perfect." The alternative to transforming our minds is to live like everyone else, and then expect a few prayers, praises and acts of worship to rescue us. This is the sacrifice of fools.

Sacrifice of Fools Ecclesiastes 5:1 warns, "Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil." When we live lives like others but mouth empty praise to make us "righteous," we are offering the sacrifice of fools.

Attitudes <--> Actions We continually renew our minds not just by guarding our thoughts but by our actions, for even as attitudes determine actions, so our actions shape our attitudes. If we do evil, for example, we will adjust our attitudes to rationalize it.

Delight or Dread? We do reap what we sow in our hearts, minds, and actions. What we sow, today, determines whether we await our own Harvest with delight or dread.

"He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it." Proverbs 11:27

In closing, a quote from Charles Swindoll:
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."

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