Ive never considered myself to be mechanically minded.
Oh, Ive wired plugs and changed the oil in my car a few times but whenever it came to more complicated repairs like fixing toys, the toilet or the swimming pool I quickly called in the experts. But that changed about fifteen years ago when one day I watched my father-in-law repair his lawnmower. I said to him Wow, you are so good at fixing things. Ive never been able to fix those kinds of things or do anything like that. In his usual forthright manner, he shot back, Thats because you dont take the time.
His words changed my life.
Now, whenever I encounter a problem – whether it is my car or my lawnmower, I try to take the time to think about it and do my best to resolve it. It usually works! But over the years I have learnt that this approach is not only applicable to repairing toilets and lawnmowers! Too often we do not take the time to solve many of lifes problems.
While writing this article I found myself singing a popular 60s song by Percy Sledge called Take Time to Know Her. Its about a young man who cant wait to get married to his girlfriend and does not listen to his mothers advice: Son, take time to know her. Its not an overnight thing. Take time to know her. Please, dont rush into this thing. But he doesnt listen to her and gets married. Then he came home a little early one night…. No prizes for guessing what happened!
Can thinking be working?
Ravi Zacharias wrote; One of the tragic casualties of our age has been that of the contemplative lifea life that thinks, thinks things through…. A person sitting at his desk and staring out of the window would never be assumed to be working. No! Thinking is not equated with work. Yet, had Newton under his tree, or Archimedes in his bathtub bought into that prejudice, some natural laws would still be up in the air, or buried under an immovable rock.1
But this is not new advice! Once again King Solomon digs deep into his gold mine of wisdom and shares his riches with us. For example, in Proverbs 14:15 he teaches us that wise people think carefully about everything (ERV). He also advises, The plans of hard-working people earn a profit, but those who act too quickly become poor (Proverbs 21:5; NCV). Solomon even instructs us to stop what we are doing, bend down and consider the ways of the tiny, hard working ant (Proverbs 6:6). The word consider means to continually turn something over in your mind and in so doing you begin to understand. It was used of ancient astronomers to describe what they did to seek an understanding of the universe. They would lie on their backs in a field all night and consider the heavens as it unfolded before them in thousands of small dots of light.
Nothing ranks higher for mental discipline than regular study of Gods Word, but too often we read the Bible no differently from the way we read the sports page, the comic strips, or the classifieds. Have you given up reading the Bible because you find it boring, irrelevant or too difficult to understand? Do you rush through your Bible study so that you can get more important things done? There is a better way apply it and you will never be the same again:
Let it melt in your mouth
The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote; Fix your thoughts upon some text of Scripture before you leave your bedroom in the morningit will sweeten your meditation all the day. Always look God in the face before you see the face of anyone else. Lock up your heart in the morning and hand the key to God and keep the world out of your heart. Take a text and lay it on your tongue like a wafer made with honey and let it melt in your mouth all day. If you do this, and meditate upon it, you will be surprised to notice how the various events of life will help to open up that text . Let your soul be so full of the Word of God that at all the intervals and spaces when you can think upon it, the Word of God dwelling in you richly may come welling up into your mind and make your meditation to be sweet and profitable.
Take the time to consider as you read the scriptures. They are God-breathed (2Timothy 3:16). As you read, God is communicating with you personally. Ask questions like, What are you saying to me today, Lord? and Is there something in your words that I need to see that Im not seeing? The Bible is an immense gift, but only if the words are assimilated, taken into the soul eaten, chewed, gnawed, received in unhurried delight.2
There is much more to say about this life-changing subject. But I need to conclude. My neighbour has just called to ask if I have some time to help him repair his lawnmower….
1 Ravi Zacharias, The Dying Art of Thinking
2 Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book