092007

September 20, 2007

Vain Imaginations

by Shana Schutte

Like most women I can be concerned about many things: If I get a flat tire, will there be someone around to help? If I'm not hired for more work this month, will I have enough money to cover my expenses? And if I get my hair colored, will it match my skin tone? However, just like many women, no worry--big or small--has matched my anxiety about romantic love. It's been in a painful league all its own.

In my past during the beginning stages of a potential relationship, although my date and I were at Point A (He called me once and we scheduled to meet for the first time for coffee), in my mind I was already at Point Z (I'd met his mother, birthed his babies and started folding his underwear). And in no less than 3.5 seconds flat, on the trip in my mind between A and Z, I discovered numerous reasons why the relationship wouldn't work, and therefore reasons for panic. What if we don't get along because I'm right-brained and he's left? What if he doesn't like the way I do laundry or what if thinks I need to earn more money? Like my mother says, I "made mountains out of molehills," and reacted based on information I didn't even have, or some little sign I'd overblown based on past experience. In Scripture, Paul describes my response as a "vain imagination" (2 Corinthians 10:5).The word vain means "empty", because these thoughts are not based in truth.

Can you relate? Maybe you haven't experienced vain imaginations about love, but perhaps you've struggled with worries about children, marriage, friendships, finances, sex, social situations, the past or the future, or any number of things in between.

What's the answer for fighting these thoughts that raise themselves up against the knowledge of God? It involves taking them captive (stopping them dead in their tracks) then redirecting your mind to God's truth to embrace it. I've often found it effective to speak His truth out loud. I also ask myself questions like: Are my thoughts true? Do I have enough information to make this judgment, or is it based on a small sign or some fear from my past? Is what I feel based on God's truth and the reality of what I've learned about my situation, or am I just imagining something?

I won't lie. This has been a process of learning for me, but as He promised, He came to set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1). The result? I've learned to stop folding underwear in my mind, and thank God for giving me the ability to live in the moment.

"The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

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