Making Your Bed
by Pastor Coleman
Recently, someone told me they were not happy with the way life has turned out for them. My heart goes out to people who feel this way. There are some who might coldly say, “You made your bed, now sleep in it!” But there’s no law that says you can’t put clean, fresh sheets on it! That’s what I would like to help you do. My desire to help those who are disappointed in their past prompts me to write on this subject.
While there is nothing that can be done to change the past, there is something that can be done about the future.
In Proverbs 4:26 God inspired the wise king, Solomon, to write, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established." The word “ponder” comes from a Hebrew word which, literally, means “to roll out flat.” It is used in the sense of the mental exercise of sorting out all the jumbled details of life so you can see better to sort them out. Picture someone laying a map on the ground, unfolding it and smoothing it out by pounding out the wrinkles so they can see where they are according to the map and where they need to go. To get on the right track you must give concentrated thought to the way you have been living, the decisions you have been making and how those decisions have affected your life. If you don’t like the way your decisions have been affecting your life, you must consider why you have made the decisions you have made.
Our actions are determined by what and how we think. None of us can control what we think all the time. Everyone has thoughts that involuntarily cross their mind, but you determine if that thought is welcome. As someone once said, “You can’t keep a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep him from building a nest!”
How you think involves what you do with a thought. If you welcome unclean or unjust thoughts in your mind, you are giving storage space for them in your mind, consequently, you will eventually make decisions which are affected (or better still, infected) by those stored thoughts. So, for starters, analyze what you allow yourself to think about. Then choose a standard by which to measure those thoughts. You are free to choose whatever standard you wish, but if you choose an imperfect standard, you will have imperfect results. Since none of us are capable of following through to perfection, it is much more important that we at least choose a perfect standard. The only perfect standard in existence for English speaking people is God’s preserved, inspired, infallible Word - The Bible (specifically, the God-authorized and time-proven Authorized Version, commonly referred to as the King James Bible). In other words, if a thought crosses your mind that goes against the Word of God, cast it aside. Don’t welcome it in your mind. This is taught by 2 Corinthians 10:5:
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Now, if you do not know the Bible very well, you will be limited in your ability to know what should be cast aside and what should be welcomed, stored and referred to in the decision-making process. So, come to 35th Avenue Baptist Church and allow yourself to hear the Word of God preached and taught clearly, and rightly. A steady diet of Spirit-led preaching will have a positive affect on your ability to control your thoughts, and thus your actions. You’ll be surprised at how your thinking will clear up. And your decisions will be better and soon you’ll find your bed of life isn’t so bad after all - with clean sheets!
While there is nothing that can be done to change the past, there is something that can be done about the future.
In Proverbs 4:26 God inspired the wise king, Solomon, to write, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established." The word “ponder” comes from a Hebrew word which, literally, means “to roll out flat.” It is used in the sense of the mental exercise of sorting out all the jumbled details of life so you can see better to sort them out. Picture someone laying a map on the ground, unfolding it and smoothing it out by pounding out the wrinkles so they can see where they are according to the map and where they need to go. To get on the right track you must give concentrated thought to the way you have been living, the decisions you have been making and how those decisions have affected your life. If you don’t like the way your decisions have been affecting your life, you must consider why you have made the decisions you have made.
Our actions are determined by what and how we think. None of us can control what we think all the time. Everyone has thoughts that involuntarily cross their mind, but you determine if that thought is welcome. As someone once said, “You can’t keep a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep him from building a nest!”
How you think involves what you do with a thought. If you welcome unclean or unjust thoughts in your mind, you are giving storage space for them in your mind, consequently, you will eventually make decisions which are affected (or better still, infected) by those stored thoughts. So, for starters, analyze what you allow yourself to think about. Then choose a standard by which to measure those thoughts. You are free to choose whatever standard you wish, but if you choose an imperfect standard, you will have imperfect results. Since none of us are capable of following through to perfection, it is much more important that we at least choose a perfect standard. The only perfect standard in existence for English speaking people is God’s preserved, inspired, infallible Word - The Bible (specifically, the God-authorized and time-proven Authorized Version, commonly referred to as the King James Bible). In other words, if a thought crosses your mind that goes against the Word of God, cast it aside. Don’t welcome it in your mind. This is taught by 2 Corinthians 10:5:
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Now, if you do not know the Bible very well, you will be limited in your ability to know what should be cast aside and what should be welcomed, stored and referred to in the decision-making process. So, come to 35th Avenue Baptist Church and allow yourself to hear the Word of God preached and taught clearly, and rightly. A steady diet of Spirit-led preaching will have a positive affect on your ability to control your thoughts, and thus your actions. You’ll be surprised at how your thinking will clear up. And your decisions will be better and soon you’ll find your bed of life isn’t so bad after all - with clean sheets!
