Thinking is Poetry
About a month ago I heard a sermon from Pastor Fraser Venter on the concept of loving God through the way we think and the ways in which we understand and empower how others think. One of the challenges in this sermon was on thinking of those things which are admirable like Paul challenged the Church in Philippi to do. This type of thinking is an active thought life that creates an atmosphere in which people can fall in love with Jesus. This means that when we wake up on Monday morning, we align our thought life with the truth of Christ so that when we walk into family relationships, workplace activities, and the daily functions of life, we are actively creating space with our thoughts for others to experience and encounter love. SO GOOD.
He ended his sermon with an illustration about the sculpture titled “The Thinker” which was originally titled “The Poet”. The French artist, Rodin, who sculpted this masterpiece is quoted saying, “What makes my Thinker think, is that he does not think only with his brain, but he thinks with the muscles of his arms and his clenched fist and toes.” In other words, the “Thinker” is ready to spring into action. His thoughts are not passive, his thoughts are not just for himself, his thinking is not just to be a subdued state of self-focus, but rather the “Thinker” is a poet ready to burst forth with prophetic utterance from a deep connection with what he has been thinking about.
The question is “What are you thinking about and how will it impact the atmosphere around you?”
Have you ever noticed how quickly an environment changes when someone interjects a conversation with a hilarious comment? Or maybe how drastically the climate shifts when someone imposes their negative thought?
It’s so interesting to me that there is such power in the connection between the mind, the heart, and the tongue. Jesus is very clear that “A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Lk. 6:45).”
It is also very interesting how little we allow our heart, mind, and tongue to actually find connection in relationship with the Lord. We will think through certain things, or feel only during specific circumstances, or speak out when we have thought carefully or need to externally process something. But it baffles me that we limit our thinking, feeling, and words outside the way of the thinking we are called to, which aligns with the coming Kingdom.
Jesus’ first words in ministry in the Gospel of Matthew are “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mt. 4:17).” He’s had 30 or so years to think thoroughly about how to launch His ministry upon the earth. This is the vision casting session with those who would follow Him. This is, for us contemporary folks, the sales pitch of why people should listen to what He has to say. After 30 long years, He speaks up with words that bring forth depth of understanding and connects every bit of our person in one place: the Kingdom of God. Another way of saying this: change the way you think to be in unison with the King and Kingdom that has come.
The call we have is to align our thinking with the atmosphere of the King so that the poetry of the Kingdom would permeate the thoughts of our minds and feelings of our hearts to flow forth in creative expression of words that impact culture, bring forth transformation, and render understanding of hope, grace, life, and love.
This means that we are called to not be static, to not continue in our poor thinking, and to not sit back in what we have given authority over to in our lives. Even in our relationship with the Lord of the universe—the true Authority of our lives—we are called to dynamic partnership and covenant relationship, which is anything but passive.
There is a world of fractured and hopeless hearts wandering around looking for the fix for the brokenness of their lives. The beauty of Jesus is that He calls us to change the way we think so that the poetry of eternal life would affect the temporary fragmentation of the world until the atmosphere and invitation of heaven is experienced as people encounter your thoughts through your life.
In other words, the cure for the pain of this world is found in the Savior Christ Jesus who now calls you to know Him and to think like Him. Imagine this: a world filled with believers who have the mindset of Jesus. Impossibility now becomes the place in which possibility is seen. Brokenness attracts the fullness of healing. The beginning is seen through the end. The battles and games of life are fought and played through the lens of already being MORE than victorious. Identity is revealed in love rather than earned in activity or lack thereof.
There are far too many poems in you to be withheld from the hearts of this world longing to hear one masterpiece that will be an invitation and encounter of the Kingdom. There are far too many songs in your heartbeat to hold to yourself while the harmonies of other hearts are looking to resound with the Original Composer.
The poetry of your mind and heart is a sound that will pulse in every intersection in your life. The question is: what are you thinking about and how will it impact the atmosphere around you?
The truth of the Gospel is that there is newness, hope, abundance, joy, peace, truth, and life offered to those who are found in old things, hopelessness, lack, sorrow, anxiety, lies, and death. The poetry of this Gospel is a spoken Word that has now called your heart and mind home, and is cultivating beautiful seeds to speak forth as you align your atmosphere with the atmosphere of the spoken Word so that all would fall in love with the Poet God.
Again, the question is: what are you thinking about and how will it impact the atmosphere around you? Poetry is thinking alive. Let your thoughts align with the King’s as His Kingdom permeates your atmosphere with the creative expression and invitation of the King. The more you align with His Word, His thoughts, His action, and His life, the more you will find the beauty and wholeness of the poetry inside you and the creativity of the King through your life. The more you step into alignment with the Creative God, the more your life will not be stuck in the half-truths and brokenness of this world, but rather the more you will experience freedom in the fullness of the Way, Truth, and Life (Jn. 14:6).
To a world filled with that poetry, to a world filled with those poet thinkers, to a world filled with an invitation from the Kingdom for transformation and life, I say, “Yes and amen!”
