Crazy Thinking

My mom called the other day to share that my dad had awakened in the middle of the night convinced he had won a prize on a t.v. game show and needed to drive to the station to claim it. Obviously, this distressed my family and me greatly. While he had been confused before, this was the first time his thinking was delusional. It took quite a while for her to finally convince him to go back to bed. When he awakened, he was thinking clearly again. We have since learned that this episode was triggered by some medication he had recently begun taking. There are times, like this, when a person's thinking is obviously distorted and irrational. Unfortunately, distorted thinking can be not only distressing but destructive. Everyday the media shares stories of people whose thinking has led to tragedy--people committing suicide over financial stress, shooters opening fire in school hallways, teachers engaging in inappropriate behavior with students. We read such stories and shake our heads that someone's mind can get so far off track. When mental impairment shows up as a delusion or criminal behavior, it's easy to see. More difficult to spot are the crazy ideas we've normalized as a culture, mindsets like "money buys happiness" and "weapons make us safer. These principles get implanted deeply within us and cause a collective craziness. We get brainwashed into allowing materialism and violence to be normal components of our worldview. While such things seem normal in our culture, the Bible would issue a different judgment. In Romans 12:2, we are told not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This renewal process is at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Being a Christian means living with an awareness of how the ways of culture and the ways of Christ are diametrically opposed. As we grow in spiritual maturity, we are given the grace not only to recognize the dichotomy but to live with the mind of Christ. We see the emptiness and destruction inherent in the world's thought patterns and the freedom and joy inherent in Christ. Christianity promises that when we follow Christ, we eventually get brought to a place where our thinking is no longer crazy or delusional, but holy and healthy. In this Easter season, let us invite the Spirit of Christ to transform our minds by the power of His Spirit so that we might live more deeply in His power, freedom, and love.