Pathways Press.com

Written by Paul David Tripp, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker.

Our hearts struggle to keep things in their right place, so we don’t always think, desire, live, relate, plan, and decide with a proper sense of balance. Certain visions, desires, and created things take on greater weight in our hearts than they were meant to take and throw our lives out of balance. What is important to God isn’t always important to us. What God knows is needful for us isn’t always needful to us. What God says we should treasure, at street level we don’t always treasure. Things gobble up more space in our hearts than they should, and things that should have prominence in our hearts often don’t. The brokenness, drama, pain, and sadness in our lives are the result not just of the imbalance around us but also of the imbalance that still exists inside us. Thankfully, by the power of divine, transforming grace we are being progressively brought into greater balance, and we live with the surety that someday balance will be fully restored, inside and around us, and things will be where they were meant to be, doing what they were intended to do. Every leadership community should be periodically discussing these things. The Bible has another way of talking to us about imbalance. It is a term that, on the surface, seems like a religious descriptor but is actually vocabulary that God has given us for understanding the most fundamental functional struggles of every human being: idolatry. Idolatry is not just when a religious god replaces the one true God, and it is not just when your heart is ruled by an evil thing. In its most fundamental everyday form, idolatry is when good things are out of balance in our hearts. Idolatry is when things take on a greater weight in our hearts than God does. 

Prayer:

Written by Kirstyn Mayden, a contemporary Christian author.

Dear God, When our minds are distracted and overwhelmed by our personal and societal circumstances, renew and restore our minds daily. During times when we cannot think clearly, strengthen and direct our minds to your Word for hope and encouragement. Help us to keep our minds focused on You. Restore mental clarity and balance when anxiety rises. Restore positive thoughts and affirmations in our minds so that we can be beacons of hope and love. Give us the courage and discipline to continually seek your Word to renew our minds. Amen.