"My mouth shall speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding."
Psalms 49:3 (NJKV)
It is essential to perform service by giving one's best with the aspiration of reaching the hearts of those we wish to instruct. In order to succeed, it is necessary for the heart to meditate intelligent thoughts. And how can we know the quality of our thoughts? By subjecting them to the examination of Scripture, referring to the apostle Paul's remarkable statement in 1 Corinthians 2:16b "We have the mind of Christ." A spiritual leader must strive by faith to have the mind of Christ and therefore will try to align his thoughts as closely as possible with God's, being aware of how much higher they are than his own. How many thoughts crowd into our minds, especially when we are alone! Sometimes they are negative thoughts that disturb us; sometimes they are positive and cheer us up. The quality of our thoughts manifests what we are or have within us. If we are believers, thoughts manifest our faith, even if we do not openly state what we think, attitudes and actions reveal them. That is why, from those who are called to be guides, right attitudes are expected as a consequence of thoughts aligned with God's.
In the report of the spies sent to Jericho by Moses, it is very evident that although they all witnessed the same events, what is reported is very different. "Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”" (Numbers 13:30-31). Caleb calms those who had sided against Moses and, in a different spirit from the other ten envoys, driven by his faith, declares himself confident that the venture will succeed. There are no insuperable obstacles to true leadership! We also note how a single word can build up or destroy, instill courage or sow fear. In Caleb's case it even saved his life and got him into Canaan. Thinking is a discipline; we must train ourselves to do it in a certain way, and above all, we must accustom our faith to be secure and to stand firm in the Lord's promises. A human mind with the ability to think well is like a diamond mine that never runs out. Leaders should always have positive thoughts, because those with discouraging thoughts are themselves in need of encouragement and will not be able to motivate others.
The church has always had good thinkers and still has great need of them. Good thinkers are those who solve problems, have constructive ideas and always have hope that things can improve. They try to be a stimulus to those who follow them and they also take stimulus from the people who follow them. Albert Einstein stated, "Thinking is hard work; that is why so few people do it." One cannot avoid thinking; sooner or later, contingent reality calls us to think, to reflect in order to make a decision. Thinking, however, takes time, and if you want to find a good idea, you have to search for it. The easiest way to fix thoughts is to write down what we meditate on. Once you have finished thinking, you need someone to share it with, and a leader shares it with his or her team: manifest his or her thoughts and listen to those of others, because you can go much farther with a team than alone. John Maxwell, a world-renowned leadership expert, made a winning formula: "The right thought plus the right people, in the right environment at the right time, for the right reason, generate a right result." It is clear that all these conditions are only rarely realized.
Great ideas in general are very ambitious, they fly high, but they must be dropped into reality and shared with others. Writer and journalist C.D. Jackson argued that "great ideas need a landing gear as well as wings." French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, also stated that an individual should "think like a man of action-act like a man of thought." Those who serve and love the Lord have minds that are always active, thinking about great deeds. In order to achieve such goals, one must think and reflect on how and what to organize. I believe that good thinking consists of various specific mental skills. Becoming a good thinker means developing those skills to the fullest extent of one's ability.
Weekly Bible Reading Plan #29
July 10, Job 41-42; Acts 16:22-40
July 11, Psalms 1-3; Acts 17:1-15
July 12, Psalms 4-6; Acts 17:16-34
July 13, Psalms 7-9; Acts 18
July 14, Psalms 10-12; Acts 19:1-20
July 15, Psalms 13-15; Acts 19:21-41
July 16, Psalms 16-17; Acts 20:1-16