Minding Your Thoughts
A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life
Nehemiah 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah was no prophet, he was not a seer, he was not a priest, nor was he considered to be a man of God, but he was a man for God. He was the king’s cupbearer and was given an almost impossible task, yet he accomplished it. There are many aspects of leadership that can be taught from the book of Nehemiah, but none can overshadow the importance of the phrase …for the people had a mind to work. As any good leader should, Nehemiah shares the credit of this herculean task with the people who actually did the work. So built we the wall... The we is the group of people that …had a mind to work. In thinking about our thought life one must honestly address the question, “Do I have a mind to work?”
Having a mind to work means that one’s mind is made up to work, the cost has been counted, the amount of energy to complete the task has been considered, the willful determination has been set, and the mind is ready for the physical work to commence. Having a mind to work without doing the work is a waste. Working without having a mind to work is ineffective. Having a mind to work and working is very, very productive.
Sadly, there are many today who do not have a mind to work, and will not work. They depend on someone else to work for them; these never accomplish much in life. You can mark it down, whether a corporation, a small company, a nation, a state, a city, a home, a church, or any other organization of people coming together for a common cause, the success or failure of that organization rests largely with people in that organization having a mind to work. Dr. Bob Smith says often, “Failure cannot cope with persistence,” and this writer would say that persistence is every bit as much about having the mind to work as it is in doing the work.
King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, wrote this in Ecclesiastes 5:3, For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. The dream is the mind, that center of imagination, planning, the place wherein things that are, are seen before they exist. The multitude of words is the way in which the dream is articulated. But there must be work put to the dream, for words never build anything tangible. Words may be able to build up or tear down egos, but words alone cannot build a house, a marriage, a church, or a business. These take work. Dream yes! Discuss the dreams, yes! But then get up, get out, and get going and make the dream become a reality.
Great rewards, both temporal and eternal, await those who have a mind to work and then actually go out and do the work. In closing, reflect on this poem that was written many years ago.
Some dreamers never do
Some doers never dream
The only difference between the two
Is what you do with you!
May the Lord Bless and be pleased with your thought life today.
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
Comments