What’s the Point? The Power of What You Think

What’s the point?

This, and similar questions, rotated through my mind for months with varying levels of prominence like an insidious playlist of earworms. The enemy waged a subtle war in my heart and mind for several years, using disbelief and discouragement to wear my hope away. He loves to take our circumstances and whisper complementary lies that, without the antidote of strong doses of refreshment in the Word and prayer, poison us and leave us helpless and hopeless.

One of the worst things about this mental attack is that we are often unaware of it. Thoughts are the quietest, closest, and arguably, the most powerful internal force in our lives. What we allow ourselves to think becomes what we believe, and what we believe governs every action we take. But the quality of our thoughts themselves is something we often give little attention to, and this is where Satan’s strategy lies. However, our God, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, is strong enough to wage war on our behalf against these attacks of the enemy and to bring our minds back to a place of centeredness and spiritual health.

Thoughts are the quietest, closest, and arguably, the most powerful internal force in our lives. What we allow ourselves to think becomes what we believe, and what we believe governs every action we take.

Through a study from Jennie Allen called “Get Out of Your Head,” the Lord helped me become aware of the lies that were playing on repeat through my mind and start interrupting their disabling hold on my spiritual life. One huge piece of this was doing exercises that required writing down thoughts. As a writer, I am comfortable writing about my thoughts and emotions, but putting down those thoughts that I did not deem pretty enough to see the light of day was uncomfortable, even for me. But it turned out to be very important.

Similar to an experience that Jennie Allen shares in her study, when I brought those thoughts out into the light and faced them in black and white, they lost their potency. I could see them for the lies that they were when they were lying helpless on the page instead of dancing through my mind.

This step toward victory came through the example and encouragement of another writer, so I want to continue moving the message forward even though it takes raw honesty. We are to expose the works of darkness and bring them out of the shadows into the loudness of light, so in that vein I am sharing here the lies that the enemy has been trying to sell me as truth:

What’s the point of praying? It doesn’t work. No one you’ve ever prayed for salvation for has ever been saved, aside from children and that’s not miraculous enough to count as an answer to prayer.
That prayer request you’ve prayed about for years hasn’t been answered – in fact, it’s going in the opposite direction. Why bother? It only discourages you to pray for it.
What’s the point of trying to share the Gospel? No one you’ve witnessed to has ever been saved.
What’s the point of trusting people? They only stay interested in friendship when it’s convenient and they all move away or out of your life anyway, or eventually something will happen to create conflict and you’ll find out they weren’t who you thought they were and vice versa.
What’s the point of writing? Your words aren’t going to make a difference, so if God’s not going to use them anyway, why put in all the work? You’re not supposed to do it for the praise of man and you don’t feel His pleasure or guidance any other way so why bother?
What’s the point of having desires? They only lead to disappointment when they’re not fulfilled and you’re supposed to surrender them to God anyway so just live like a robot and do the right thing out of duty. Delight doesn’t matter.
What’s the point of being single? You’ll just end up in a quiet lonely house.
What’s the point of being married? You’ll just have to carry someone else’s burdens and yours too. Relationships are just a bunch of work with no reward.
What’s the point of having children (if married)? The world isn’t getting better. You really want to bring someone else into this crazy place? What will they have to face? Besides, you’ll pour your life into them and then they’ll just ignore you later on.
What’s the point of being faithful? You’re not doing any big things for Christ so why can’t you at least be happy?
What’s the point of trying to run a household well? It just takes all your time, attention, and energy to keep it going and it’s just a continuous source of work.
What’s the point of ministry? People don’t change, at least not through your influence.
What’s the point of exercising? You only have to work harder at it as you get older.
What’s the point of loving people? They won’t reciprocate and you’ll just get disillusioned and bitter when they don’t because you’ve done it for the wrong reasons.
What’s the point of worship? It doesn’t make you feel any closer to God and you can’t ever think of anything new to praise Him for anyway.
What’s the point of trying to listen to God? He doesn’t speak, and when you hear something it’s always this weird overactive conscience that makes you think you should do crazy things that never work out when you do them anyway.
What’s the point of gratitude? God just wants you to live like a robot, working day in and day out and then keep on smiling and giving thanks and being grateful even when nothing works out like you hoped. Everyone else can have exciting life changes and go on vacations but you have to just keep your nose to the grindstone and work because that’s all that works out for you.

These were the ugly thoughts that plagued my mind. There is no justification for their existence or redemption for their unworthiness; they are, plainly, lies.

But as I came to consider the words of the apostle Paul (particularly in Philippians and 2 Corinthians) and his descriptions of the difficult life he lived while maintaining joy through it all, the thought occurred to me that there must be something very great ahead in store for us, if a life like that is worth living.

“Therefore, we do not give up; even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

These are the words of a man who had been shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead, beaten, whipped, jailed – many of these things more than once – and he called it all a “momentary light affliction” that was producing an “absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.”

Let’s pause on those two lines for a moment and consider the beautiful contrast they present: Momentary. Light. Affliction. Eternal. Weight. Glory. Don’t we often feel like the reverse? Our afflictions feel eternal and weighty, while our moments of glory are light and momentary?

But that’s not what Paul says. I’ll say it again: for him to say something like that, with the kind of life he lived, there must be something very great ahead for us.

Similarly, for the writer of Hebrews to talk about the believers who wandered around, lived in caves, were imprisoned, beaten, and – this is the one that gets me – sawed in two, summed up by the phrase, “The world was not worthy of them…”

There must be something very great ahead.

It was said of these believers, “These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13 They had their hope set on a reward beyond this life and held fast to it through impossible and unspeakable situations.

A while ago I read the book Church History in Plain Language and one of the things that stood out to me as I read through 2,000 years of history is that people in every generation have had their trouble. The world has never been a peaceful place and the periods of time and places where that has been true are really the exception, and not the rule. For those of us who have experienced the luxuries of modern-day Western culture, this is easy to forget.

But let’s be honest, since this post is about keeping it real: all of that doesn’t always give us much hope for the present, does it? It’s hard to not base our joy on circumstances, especially when we are being brutally realistic about the challenges of this life.

If the point is not our happiness or comfort here on this earth, then what is the point? What is this very great thing that is in store for us? And doesn’t Jesus promise us joy along the way?

Hebrews, again, gives us the answer. The passage quoted above continues:
“Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place — a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:14-16

And in the next chapter it says:

“For you have not come to what could be touched…Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to God who is the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect,and to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel…Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:18a, 22-24,28-29

We are receiving a kingdom? Yes, we are. A kingdom of rest from the wearying, woeful circumstances of this present world where evil no longer has any power.

There is nothing more welcome than rest after weariness, hope after despair, joy after sorrow, peace after discord, comfort after pain. Friends, this is what is waiting for us. God’s welcome rest. This unshakable kingdom is our eternal inheritance. And before we get there, God gives us a deposit on our inheritance by giving us access to rest in weariness, hope through despair, joy in sorrow, peace amidst discord, comfort through pain.

The point is, to be faithful no matter what, because God is worthy of our loyalty and the future reward is worth it.
We have nothing better to trust in. No one has ever showed us the love that God has shown in sacrificing His only Son for us. God has been more faithful to us than any human being ever could be. Why would we not give Him our full loyalty? He is worthy of our devotion, our commitment. Even through all the stories whose endings we won’t know until we get to heaven one day, He is worthy. He is trustworthy.

This is living by faith: looking to the proof of the past to take confidence for the eternal future, which provides faith for the present.

By the grace of God alone, I can now say that I look at those thoughts written above and they are foreign to me. Oh, they try to knock on the door and come back in now and then, but they no longer take up the residence in my mental space that they once did. I see them for the venomous lies that they are. I believe that one of the key reasons that I was able to experience this change is that even though I went through the motions robotically and even with a cynical attitude for a long while, I didn’t give up on seeking God. My prayer life was lame and my Bible study rushed, but I still made an almost-daily effort to keep the habit alive, because in my heart I knew the truth even if I couldn’t feel it or back it up very well with my thoughts.

There is a way to joy through the hardships of life (it’s by knowing Jesus better and better), but while we’re on the way to finding it, it is enough to be faithful because God is worthy. Better is coming – such a level of better that we cannot even fathom it while we live in this wearying world. Take heart, dear one.

This is living by faith: looking to the proof of the past to take confidence for the eternal future, which provides faith for the present.