"Nothing Chatters More Than An Empty Head"

It's so easy for me to get lost in a world of thoughts (for examples, see entire blog). :) Thoughts are, after all, important. The Bible teaches us how powerful they can be: "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knoweldge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5); "'As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts'" (1 Chron. 28:9 from David); "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge" (Prov. 22:17). So I think God has blessed me to have this desire to think and analyze.

Downside #1 is that I just don't see things as clearly as other people. When I think and think and think about something, I don't tend to see the basic point of the matter and thus lose most of the meaning. That can be really frustrating.

Downside #2 (and definitely worse) is that I can completely neglect reality. Sigh...how often do I get more excited about the abstract ideas of, say, postmillenial promises when I cannot even get as excited about loving my brethren? I can spend hours talking about selfishness and the different ways it's manifested in my life, examples of it from the Bible, philosophies of its effects and how to deal with it, etc., etc. But after all that talking, I walk away and, at the end of the day, realize that I've done less repenting than talking; and repenting is what all that talking should have been aimed at in the first place!

I love how Derek Webb has been humble and brave enough to talk about these sorts of taboo and uncomfortable issues. We need to repent. But, more importantly, I need to repent.