Your Thoughts

Once again — and with all due respect to Dr. Hyatt...

You know what.

I'm not even gonna.

It's the same story over and over again.

If people cared, they'd humble themselves and read the Word of God. If people didn't care, they'd start sounding like the surrounding culture.

...and a lot of people are sounding like their environment.

So I'm gonna circumvent the whole article I intended to write. If you care, you're reading. If you don't, it doesn't make a difference.

Let me ask you this: What is your point? Yes, I'm talking to all of you. At first, I had like two or three people in mind, but I am talking to all of you.

What is your point? Seriously, what is your objective? I'd truly like to know.

I want to understand. I want to hear what sends you to and fro, scouring the earth for answers.

Usually, I'm trying to pick a fight. Not this time. This time, I really want to know what you're thinking.

After we push past the political jargon and the religious jargon, what do you have left?

Me? I have these experiences. There's this weird Book that talks about this weird Being. Whenever I make a habit of reading the Book and talking to the Being, my life seems to align itself.

Not everything becomes suddenly luxurious. I don't have bricks of gold dropped into my lap or whatever. But I feel realer, more solid, less flat.

When I drift out of the habit of reading or talking, I feel wispy, strained, stretched thin, or fragmented.

That's obviously not the whole story, but that's the real short story. I guess that doesn't sound very virtuous, but I had to start somewhere.

And then what? And then I try hard to take this Book and this Being seriously. I ain't perfect by any stretch of anyone's imagination. Thankfully, I inherit Someone else's perfection.

So I try hard to take Them seriously.

I love fitting in, but that's not the priority.
I love easy solutions, but that's not the priority.
I love having my way, but that's definitely not the priority.
I love being the center of attention, but that's not the priority.
I love feeling like I discovered something new, but that's not the priority.

I love a lot of things, but they all come under the scrutiny of whether they align with that Book and that Being. Again, I don't itemize myself perfectly, but I'm always seeking to be better aligned.

Back to you. What is your point? I'm not trying to start anything, but it looks like you've shifted your priorities sometimes.

Often, you seem driven to fit in.
Often, you seem addicted to easy solutions.
Often, you seem determined to have your way.
Often, you seem obsessed with being the center of attention.
Often, you seem intoxicated by the idea that you've discovered something new.

Often, you seem stuck in one or more of those.

I'm not trying to pick on you. I'm not trying to discount what you've heard, seen, thought, or felt.

I am trying to jumpstart your thinker and invite you to revisit some of your old assumptions.

Friend, I mean this with all the love I have in my heart: You've been acting so dumb.

And I only say that because I admire you so much, and it doesn't line up with how smart you usually seem!

I wouldn't say that to other people, the really dumb people. They like it there.

You... at least I thought you strove for more. It makes me sad to consider that you don't really.

But I will hold out hope. I will cling to the notion that you strive for greater things!

So I ask again: What is your point? What drives you to cheap answers and poisoned bandwagons?

We have rough seasons. I know that despair can send us to dark places. What drove you to yours?

Some vices are high-society vices, so it's easy to excuse some addictions. I see it, and I think you see it.

I will never deny how hard it is to break free from the drugs that society affirms, but you see it.

You do see it, right?

Do you feel the nagging in the back of your mind that tells you there are deeper, greater things?

Do you feel your subconscious grinding when you gobble up the newsfeeds? Do you feel the internal conflict when you quote partially-read articles?

I feel those things when I hear you talking, when I read your posts. What am I supposed to say? I'm not trying to defame you! I'm trying to point back to Christ!

I wish we could have a calm, open talk about all the things, but, sometimes, you're positively steeped in culture-speak. Sometimes — oh, my friend — sometimes, you are elegant and eloquent! Sometimes, wisdom seems to blast forth from your mouth!

But, other times, you sound like everyone else, parroting what's thrust in front of you, changing with each passing week, each passing day.

And it makes me sad.

I don't need us to agree! I don't need you to think my thoughts! But I desperately want you to think your own thoughts.

And that's about it.

I would love to talk with you about every topic that ever arose, and there may be a time for that.

However, the main point I'm trying to make here and now is I'm scared that you're not thinking your own thoughts.