I like to think things through, think things out, understand them. I believe that God gave us our minds so that we can use them. There are some times, however, that I'm certain I've been overthinking things, making them more complicated than they need to be. Some things are difficult to understand one step at a time, because they are too simple. When only one step is involved, it must be comprehended all at once. Every bit of human wisdom can only take us so far, and then we have to take a leap of faith. 1 Corinthians 1:20 says, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" In fact, that chapter has a lot to say about God's wisdom compared to ours.
Let me give an example of my overthinking. I've tried to work my mind around the process of becoming more like Christ, of repentance, a complete mind transformation and choice to follow Him consistently - to rid myself of double-mindedness and go His way with everything I am. The thing is, all I have to understand is God's love. He figured out how to redeem and transform my life, and He did what had to be done. It may feel as though my past needs to be understood and overcome before I can move past it, but those steps were already taken by Jesus. The one step I must take is to trust Him, and that necessitates believing in Him and what He has done. To illustrate my overthinking, and how simple it really is, let me walk through it.
- I want to follow God and live in obedience, but I've not always been successful in the past, how can I hope to be successful this time? What do I need to do to get to that point? - Repent of my sins and turn to Him, His grace will give me strength to obey. - I've tried and gone back on my word to God before, how can I know that I'll see it through this time? - Make the decision to do it, and don't let fear hold me back. Jesus did everything necessary to pay for all my sins, it's His power that will see it through. 1 John 1:7-2:2 has a lot to say about that. - OK, but how do I follow Him? What exactly does He want me to do about _________? - Just listen to Him, and when He says to do something, do it. It's that simple.
Most of the things I need to do are a one-step process. There's only one step between not trusting and trusting, not repenting and repenting, not following and following, not listening and listening, not obeying and obeying. The real choice comes down to this: When am I going to take that step? I choose now.
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