Goo, You, and Obedience

11/28/2010

Discussion caught in progress about what’s goo and what’s you...

Those things that you think are mostly you -- your emotions, opinions, thoughts, preferences -- is just the goo between your ears.

We know somebody who was in a type of coma for medical reasons, and when they woke up they were completely different. The food that they liked was different. And even though they had been smoking for twenty years, when they woke up they had no urge for it and quit smoking. All sorts of things changed from the time they went to sleep to the time they woke up. It was exactly the same person yet the foods they liked and their preferences changed. The human brain is a weird thing.

The point is, don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t think that who you think you are is really who you are. A whole bunch of who you are depends on the choices you make and the life you’re building, whether it’s based on obedience to Jesus, love of God and love of others -- building on the Rock.

Jesus didn’t say, “If you build on the rock of obedience to My Father, then depending on what kind of person you are and what your preferences are, it might be really hard for you.” No, He said, “You’ll stand if you build on the rock of obedience. You won’t stand if you build on the disobedience of the little things. So, no matter what you think or feel, always come back to that one basic thing. Forget about, “I don’t know how I feel or why I feel this thing. I’m not exactly like everybody else. I think things and do things that not everybody else does.” Forget all that stuff.

Just Obey God in the things that are right in front of you. Cast down imaginations. Deal with obedience issues. Make things right when you need to. Soften yourself and be humble. Be penitent. Do the right things. Do the things you can do and trust God for the rest. In that sense Jesus said we’re all the same: we all have the same choices about obeying or disobeying. We all have the same choices to love God and others...or to love ourselves.

There are a myriad of possibilities in the peanut butter in your brain of what you like and don’t like and what your preferences and your talents are. All that stuff just disappears on the basis of obeying and loving and leaving the rest to God.

Your house will stand if you obey and you love. Your house will not stand if you don’t obey and you don’t love. Okay? It’s that simple, regardless of what the goo is between your ears. We have that promise that if we obey and we love, we can have a lot of confidence.

On the other hand -- no matter what you think and feel in your brain -- if you don’t obey and you don’t love, you’ll end up being a pile of trash in the dumpster. No matter what you think about yourself, for better or for worse when you look in the mirror or what you think of others and your temptations about others...if you don’t obey and you don’t love, you’re in trouble.

But if you do obey and you do love, it’s going to eventually work out okay.

•  Moods and Our Peanut Butter Circuitry