Thinking Spiritually: Lazy-Man’s Summary

Final Thoughts:

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This is the last Post on Owen’s “Being Spiritually Minded”. I thought I’d end with my own “Lazy-man’s” summary. A few reflections inspired by Owen that I hope will shape my own approach to thinking in a way that honors God.

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1. The Myth of Neutrality: I can fool myself that there is a wide gulf between what goes on in my mind, and what actually sees the light of day in my live. Owen reminded that thoughts are not neutral, but produce fruit, be it good or bad.

2. Fad-Like Spirituality: Often my so-called “spiritual thoughts” can be more fad-like than mature. Owen’s book challenged me to seek a Spirit mindedness that was more “like the children of the house – always expected, and certainly enquired for if missing.”

3. Shield against Sin: It can be tempting to view Spiritual Mindedness as detached from my daily reality. Yet Owen convincingly argues  that to persue a thought-life as the Spirit directs, is an effective way to shield ourselves from sin taking a foothold.

4. Spiritual Stimulus: It can be tempting to think that Spiritual mindedness can come as a result of our own will power. However Owen reminded me that Spiritual mindedness springs from what we love most. If I love anything above God himself, any “spiritual mindedness” will be a sham.

5. Spiritual Appetite: I was convicted of the need to regularly talk myself through a little “self-diagnosis”, seeking out possible causes for my lack of spiritual appetite… sin, business, sickness, tiredness. Pursuing Spiritual mindedness is never a straight forward matter.

Thinking Spiritually: Part 7

Spiritual Appetite:

We are almost at the end of Owen’s reflections on Spiritual Mindedness. Maybe just a post or two left.

In chapter 20 Owen turns to the analogy of appetite; specifically reflecting on the lack of appetite we often have for thinking spiritually.

“When people have found a joy in the suitability of spiritual truth to themselves, they will long for more of it, especially at those times when such delight seems more difficult to feel. Illness of body can make us loose our physical appetite. So, too, in the case of the health of our souls, if some sinfulness has made us spiritually sick, then we will lose the sweetness of spiritual things. But believers experience a longing for the return to health and to the former enjoyment of former experiences when spiritual duties and truths seemed so good.”

If you are suffering lack of “spiritual appetite”, might this be the reason? I regularly talk myself through a little “self-diagnosis”, seeking out possible causes for my lack of spiritual appetite.

Of course there are many things that can cause us to loose our appetite. Knowing that it is not sin alone that can plague us, Owen also offers the following encouragement…

“There are times when because of weakness or tiredness it is unusually hard to concentrate the thoughts. Let me say that if you cannot succeed in meditation, do not stop trying! Return to the task again and again during the day. Take comfort from a Scripture passage like Romans 8:23-26. If you neglect the habit for any length of time, it will soon evade you altogether. And what is worse, you will become content with other things instead of spiritual things.”

Reading Owen at this point, I’m personally wondering If I need to take more stepts to avoid loosing my appetite in the first place. Some of my tiredness is self-inflicted. How might my appetite for thinking spiritual things, be improved by some strategically possitioned moments of rest?

Thinking Spiritually: Part 6

All Too Difficult:

In this post I thought I’d highlight Owen’s reflections on why Spiritual Mindedness can feel such a difficult thing for us to pursue.

On the slowness of growth in Spiritual Thinking: “It may seem that our progress in growing more spiritually minded is very slow. Our love for spiritual things is like a shrub in the desert that hardly ever seems to grow. This can be because we are content with our present spirituality… That is to be like a refugee who runs from the troubles of one country, only to squat just inside the borders of another and be little better off than before.”

The source of Difficulty: “Let me insist  that such an attitude of content with so little spiritual experience cannot be expected to produce a sense of spiritual peace. Growth in spiritual mindedness is difficult, but the difficulty often arises from the fact that we want to keep in our daily lives things that are inconsistent with spirituality.”

“In other words, the difficulty is in ourselves and not in spirituality. WE do not wish to put aside every hindrance (Hebrews 12:1).”

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Compare yourself with the descriptions below where Owen describes possible reasons for why we can find Spiritual Mindedness so difficult to pursue:

i.) “As the sealing wax takes and preserves the impression of the seal, so believers grow to be like what they love. Compare those unbelievers of whom Peter writes, whose lustful looks betrayed the sin they loved (2 Peter 2:14).”

ii) “Or the difficulty may arise from actual sins in us… Then we will seek spiritual growth in vain. We do not need some refreshing drink then, but rather some deep surgery!”

iii) “The Gospel promises forgiveness of sins to believers, and also much more – the promise of peace, joy, spiritual strength, assurance and a bright hope. Many Christians come little further than the forgiveness in their spiritual experience. They are foolish to be content with so little.”

I especially wonder at how common the 3rd point (above) is for many Christians. It is indeed a wonderful thing to be freed from the fear of judgment. Apart from Christ, it would be far more than we could hope for from God. BUT as with the refugee illustration above, to be content with forgiveness alone is to shout “ENOUGH” as God is still pouring forth his blessings.

…or…

I wonder if we make the mistake of being satisfied with how godly we are, while being dissatisfied with how spiritual we feel?

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Reflection:

- Are you content to “squat just inside the boarders” of Christian life? Why?

- Could the difficulty we experience lie within ourselves, and not with “thinking spiritually”  itself?

Thinking Spiritually: Part 5

The Rudder of the truly Spiritual Mind:

If it is spiritual mindedness that we are after, it is helpful to be aware of what the competition is… to honest about what else is competing for the affection of our thoughts. Owen puts it this way in ch11…

“Spiritual mindedness grows from and consists of being delighted by spiritual things: what we LOVE is what captures us. The great contest between heaven and earth is to see which of them can most draw out our love. Whoever has our love has the whole of us; love causes us to give ourselves away, as nothing else can. Our love is like the rudder of a ship – where it is turned, there the ship goes.”

Matthew 6:19-24 describes this principle that Owen is speaking about in relation to the love of money.

Reflection 1: What “object of love” is most likely to play the master in your thought life?

Reflection 2: What unspiritual “loves” act as your rudder?

“To think less of anything, one must think more of something else” ie Owen is saying that it is not enough to free our thoughts from the love of things which displease God. We must simultaneously replace them with thoughts of love for those things which do please God.

An Exercise: Each time you try and put to death your love for some ungodly thought, try immediately to replace it with thoughts of love for God himself. [eg - you become aware of lustful thoughts and try and put them out of your mind. Don't let that be the end of it - immediately try and replace those thoughts with affection and love for say, God's patience or His compassion, or His majesty. by doing so we are training ourselves not only to hate evil, but love good - Amos 5:15, Rom 12:9]

Thinking Spiritually: Part 4

Spiritually Minded Delight

This post is really focused on the converse of the previous post. When Owen writes about being spiritually minded, he is far more interested in what thoughts we should delight in, than in those we should grieve over.

Consider the following example from chapter 6:

“A mark of spiritual mindedness is when the thought of complete freedom from sin brings delight. Even the humblest Christian who sincerely grieves over sin can enjoy the delight of such thoughts.”

or another from the next chapter:

“We should think about Christ’s Glory in heaven now. As a wonderful person, both divine and human, his prayers for his church cannot fail. When his church is complete, we will see the glory of his coming to judge the world. Do not misunderstand me. Spiritual meditation is not merely to recite these facts to ourselves. Spiritual mindedness means that we have a sense of delight in them.”

This is exactly the aim of Revelation Ch 4-5. To so fill the minds of Christians with such a glorious vision of who God is, and of Jesus’ present Glory, that one’s whole way of viewing and thinking about the world can not help but be transformed.

In fact Owen argues in another of his books, Indwelling Sin, that to foster delight in heavenly things (Col 3:1-4, 2 Cor 4:17-18) is the most effective way to tackle “un-spiritual” thinking…

“Were our affections filled, taken up, and possessed with these things (Col 3:1-4)… what access could sin, with its painted pleasures, with its sugared poisons, with its envenomed baits, have unto our souls?”

For me, meditating on passages…   No…  DELIGHTING in passages like Revelation 4-5 help push all manner of less flattering thoughts from my mind. Why not read the Bible with one eye open for a passage or two that you can not only meditate on, but DELIGHT in. Think of the passage often, and let it (through the Spirit’s power) start to transform your thought life.

Thinking Spiritually: Part 3

Spiritually minded grief:

So… are you spiritually minded or not? How can you tell? In the last post we looked at why Owen so was concerned about the spiritual mindedness of Christians in his day – “As a person thinks, so he is!”

We can be tempted to test for spiritual mindedness in ourselves and others in a whole bunch of ways – In Chapter three and four Owen gives a few examples of UNRELIABLE tests, and a MORE RELIABLE test. I’ll include Owen’s text in red, followed by a few reflection questions.

unreliable test one: “People who enjoy listening to good preaching are not NECESSARILY spiritually minded. There were many in Christ’s day who enjoyed his preaching. But, as Jesus taught in the parable of the sower, as soon as the preaching was finished they forgot what they had heard.”

Reflection:

- Why not read Matthew 13:18-22 (parable of the sower) and reflect upon how you respond to hearing God’s word.

- Does hearing of God’s word stimulate our LOVE of God, or only our knowledge of scripture? Pray that God would bless you with the former.

unreliable test two: “People who can pray fluently are not NECESSARILY spiritually minded. Some people have natural gifts of speech, but such gifts do not prove that they are spiritual. Natural gifts make believers more useful in the service of Christ, but what has to be examined is wether there are also present, humility, reverence for God and Love.”

Reflection:

- Do you allow your gifts or abilities in any area to mask the lack of “Love for God” in your thinking?

unreliable test three: “If spiritual thoughts are ONLY EVER produced by some outside stimulation [Owen is referring to conversation/arguments with others] then they cannot be arising from spiritual mindedness within a person.”

Reflection:

- Do your “spiritual” thoughts ONLY arise from debate with others, or also from your own affection for God?

a slightly more reliable test: “Those who are truly spiritually minded will be GRIEVED when they realise they have missed an opportunity for spiritual meditation. ‘How foolish’ they will say ‘to miss such an opportunity’”.
“Are our spiritual thoughts like guests visiting an Hotel, or like children living at home. There is a temporary stir and bustle when guests arrive, yet within a little while they leave and are forgotten. The hotel is then prepared for other guests. So it is with religious thoughts that are only occasional. But children belong to their house. They are missed if they don’t come home. Preparation is continually being made for their food and comfort. Spiritual thoughts that arise from true spiritual mindedness are like the children of the house – always expected, and certainly enquired for if missing.”

Reflection:

- Where does your mind turn to, what does your mind dwell upon when it finds itself unexpectedly free from our usual activities?

- On the way to work (or wherever) jot down Romans 12:1-2 and Psalm 119. Pray that God would renew your mind and thinking in this way.

Thinking Spiritually: part 2

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Welcome to the series of blogs on John Owen’s book The Grace & Duty of Being Spiritually Minded. The book begins with the following illustration…

“In the spring, we see trees covered with blossom. Some of that blossom falls off too soon and comes to nothing. Some of it remains and then there is fruit. People’s minds, like trees full of blossom, are full of thoughts. Many thoughts will come to nothing. Some will produce fruit – good or bad. The kind of thoughts we have may tell us if we are spiritually minded or not. As a person thinks, so he is (Prov 23:7).”

So what is there to learn about being spiritually minded from the opening illustration of John Owen’s book. Do you generally think about your thought life in the way Owen’s describes above?

It is common for people to convince themselves that there is a wide gulf between what goes on in their minds, and what actually sees the light of day in their lives.

However Owen begins by illustrating how the connection between our thought life and WHO WE ARE as people is an intimate one. Like the blossom on a tree, our thoughts can  either i) wither to nothing OR ii) produce fruit – good or bad. If your anything like me though, you probably think very little about what will be the outcome or results of your thoughts… hence this series of posts. Maybe jot down the reflection questions below and think/pray over them on the way to work – or whatever.

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Some reflection questions:

- Do you ever think you can keep your thought life independent from who you are as a person?

- Do you ever think about what the outcome of your thought-habits might be?

- What areas of your thought life, are most likely to produce fruit that dishonours God?

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Next post we’ll lok at how Owen suggests we can gauge wether or not we really are spiritually minded.

Thinking Spiritually (starts 13th May)

In your experience of Christian life, is it easy to THINK about, & DELIGHT in thinking about spiritual things? Questions like this make us squirm. For many Christians, the word “Spiritual” often inspires either boredom or guilt… but rarely anything close to peace!

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Who has time to think at all, let alone time to think spiritually. Even if one did have time to nurture spiritual thoughts, the question could still be asked “Should we bother?” Is a desire to think spiritually merely a pious excuse to retreat from dealing with the real world?

Over the next few months, we’ll check out what John Owen had to say about being spiritually minded. He believed that thinking spiritually WAS peace. I aim to post a section of his book [Thinking Spiritually] with a few reflections. You’ll see that this guy is no monk seeking to avoid reality.

Owen wrote this book at a time when he was so sick he could do nothing but think! With so much thinking time forced upon him, he realised how much of Christian thought is barely worthy of the name “Christian”.

His aim was to help all Christians enjoy a mind of peace (Rom Ch8).

In the next post we’ll start working our way through Owen’s very practical advice on how to think spiritually. But if you’d first like to learn a little about the great man, copy & paste the link below for John Piper’s audio introduction…

www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/1466/Audio/

Cheers – Steve Freddo