An Undivided Mind

Psalm 86:11 is a Davidic prayer of lament and petition, probably better understood by missionaries today than by fat-cat Americans. But for the world we live in, spoiled as we are with amenities and all manner of materialism and attitude, this particular verse from this Psalm should hit us right between our jaded eyes.

11 Teach me Your way, LORD, and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.

Imagine if we had truly an undivided mind to fear His Name. Just imagine. No distractions from situations, conditions, misplaced importance on materialism, envy, deceit, gossip, anger, anxiety... no distractions from pain, whether we are the giver or receiver of it, past, present, and future.

My mom says she strives to keep her mind like a museum rather than an attic. She likes to think of honoring good memories and tossing out worthless junk; holding on to the things that uplift others and glorify God, and dismissing those that fail to.

We are spoiled, and that's an ugly word. Its one that bothers me when I hear adults refer to a child as "spoiled". What happens to food when it's spoiled? It becomes unedible; useless; worthless; even poison, and must be thrown out. It is adults more than children who are indeed spoiled to the point of being poison when our minds are divided and cease to fear His Name; spoiled from allowing division of the mind to worship creature comforts; spoiled in thinking that materialistic, outcome-based prayer honors the LORD.

About a year after the fire, when I had returned to work, I spent some time with a co-worker of mine. Bill is a paralegal here also, but his background is very different from mine. He came into this job after being let go from a university where he taught dead languages. He has a Ph.D. and was teaching ancient Hebrew, Greek, Latin. After answering several questions about translations of God's Word, he said to me, "I FEAR God! I truly fear Him! He IS Almighty!" Bill has a deeper understanding through studying original transcripts and cultures, and I figure he's someone who knows more than I do about the actual words of Christ as they were originally recorded and the accuracy of translation. He says when we really understand what the Scriptures say, we will fear God and we will know even deeper how much He loves us.

So even while we are spoiled, God offers us His Gift of Life through salvation through His Son. Contrary to new-age thought, there is only one way. And while we strive at times to have an undivided mind, we can be at peace when we have accepted the Gift of salvation: the Gift that pays (because we do not have it to pay) that makes up for the difference between being spoiled and being holy.