First of all, this is not a political commentary. If you're looking for someone with whom to debate politics, I'm so not your girl. It's not because I don't think they're important, by all means, I believe it's very important to be an informed citizen, to pray for our leaders, and for crying out loud, to GO VOTE!
But....I have to admit I just don't understand a lot of the political jargon. I end up staring at the TV all like:
and googling the definition of NATO (I know. My husband laughs at me too). So anyway, that being said, I am very much aware of the fact that this year's election is one of, if not the most, controversial elections in the history of America. When both candidates are selling their own brand of crazy, things just get....complicated.
The other night I was watching all the commentators analyze the latest debate (with my patient husband of course, who is so grateful to the person who invented the ability to pause live TV so his politically illiterate wife can ask her bazillion questions and he doesn't have to miss any of the seventeen thousand hours of analysis), and afterwards I found myself lying awake in bed for quite a while thinking about our country and the mess we're in--which, for me to be obsessing over the news is a shocker in and of itself. (My dad once asked me if I even knew who our President was...hmmpphh!) As I lay there, various scenarios played in my head and the more I thought about it, the more fear began to creep in.
And then God reminded me, He's bigger than all of this.
My job as a believer is to fill my mind with truth. His truth. Found in His Word. The only way we will stand firm in these treacherous days is to saturate our minds with scripture. Now please don't think I'm trying to go all churchy-cliche here, because I'm not. But the older I get, the more I am reminded that we have a choice: we can either feed the flesh or feed the spirit, and the one we feed is the one that will grow and determine the course of our life.
If I want to be prepared to combat fear, discern between truth and lies, or persevere through difficult times, I must be filling my mind with the kind of truth that will get me there. Truth acts as a filter for the daily bombardment of information via TV, social media, and the like. A wise friend once said, "the heart loves what the mind thinks about, and the will does what the heart loves." In other words, whatever I spend time thinking about, I start loving. It becomes truth to me. I believe it, cherish it, and before long, my life is marked by it. If all I do is spend time listening to the world I will soon become fearful, cynical, narcissistic, and mean. But if I set my heart and mind on things above (Colossians 3) and surround myself with the truth of the gospel, then I will begin to think like Christ. I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't watch the news or be informed about what's going on in the world, but it can't be all we listen to or we begin to lose perspective and forget the power that is ours in Christ.
One of my favorite and easy ways to do this is to post scripture verses on 3x5 cards in various places where I will see them and be reminded of truth. When my mind is tempted to wander in the morning when getting ready, I can glance at the card on my mirror and remember that the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead is living in me (Romans 8:11), and so I can walk confidently today knowing that "greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
Right now I am absolutely loving Joshua 1:7-9. I highly encourage you to go read it. I have desperately needed the reminder that in His Word is where I find the strength to make it from this day to the next, where I summon the courage to talk to my creepy neighbors across the street whom I'm pretty sure are running a crack house and watching our every move (but need Jesus), and where I am met with grace as a despicable human being who sometimes yells at her kids, forgets to be kind, and has been given the boundless love of a merciful Savior. It is there I find that His truth is the only truth that will completely set us free and mend everything in this life that is messy and broken.
Beat that, Fox News.