Avoiding Empty Thoughts

I have been chewing on an idea for a sermon series for a while, based on Ephesians 4:17. “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” NIV (I say “chewing on” instead of “working on” because I do not at the moment have any preaching opportunities on the calendar)

Paul seems pretty adamant that there is a way we lived prior to coming to faith that we are obligated to stop, and that this way of living is characterized as “futile thinking”. An interesting term, a term made more interesting by looking it up in a Greek dictionary, where I learned it means “nothingness”, “useless” or “transitory”. Hmm. So Gentiles think about temporary things that amount to nothing, and we are supposed to be different. The remainder of Ephesians 4 lays out these differences, which may someday be the sermon series. Or a rather verbose series of Blog posts.

One result of all of this mastication is a greater awareness of how much “nothing” there is in the minds of people I converse with. So often things that matter so little end up mattering so much to so many people.

I think of conversations I have with young people about their future plans. Almost without exception their life goals focus on the accumulation of material wealth. We should be different, and markedly so. We should be focused on things that last, and no material thing endures.

It is worth noting that Paul would have told the Ephesians to avoid this type of thinking unless there was a significant chance that they might end up thinking that way! I am sure share the same tendency to wrong thought, and the same need to expend effort in thinking correctly.

A great question to ponder is, “How would my live be different if I truly thought of eternal and important things, if I saw the world as God does?”

Welcome To The Blog

Being a Family Physician means I am uniquely blessed. Everyday of my life I have opportunities to help people. Sometimes with medicines, sometimes with my hands, frequently with my words, for people do not come in with just physical needs. They come with spiritual and emotional needs as well. As a Christian who has studied the Bible for years, I have learned that if I pay attention- if I listen carefully, I can see the truths of Scripture played out in their lives, and apply the truths of God to help them along their way. Usually, the interactions teach me as well.

Over the years, these interactions have become a part of stories around the dinner table, illustrations for sermons and conversations with friends. A recurring refrain as of late is that these stories should be shared, that others could be blessed if these stories were more widely shared. But how? Well apparently there is this thing called the internet, where you can write your stories and people all over the world can read them! So hear we are. I pray that some will find these stories a blessing, and that I am correctly responding to the quiet voice in my head and heart urging me to write.

Speaking of quiet voices... when I first went into medial practice, my partner called me aside one day and told me, “Bart, listen to your gut. It will save lives.” He was right.

Last week a patient came in complaining of soreness in her hip and right leg. She had a history of back pain in the past, and she said she felt as if the pain was burning in nature (which is usually a pinched nerve). As we talked she shared that the pain had been going on for about 10 days, and had started after she had flown home from out of state.

Since the pain she described sounded radicular (doctor talk for “from a nerve in the back”) I proceeded to do an exam for back pain. Her back was non tender, and her strength and reflexes were all normal. I do not always have back patients lie down so I can check if they have pain when I raise a leg, but I did this time. No pain.

Then came the gut, the little voice- “check her legs.” So I did. I started feeling around her legs for any tenderness. The “Ow!” came as I felt in her upper calf. This was unexpected...

The conversation in my head began-

“Could she have a blood clot in her calf?”

“No- it has been 10 days!'

“But she was on an airplane!”

“But it was a short flight!”

The debate raged in my mind. Finally, I decided to listen to that voice of concern in my head, the uneasiness in my gut. I told her I doubted that it was serious, but that there was a small chance that there could be a blood clot in her leg, and so to be safe I was going to order an ultrasound.

Sure enough... she had a blood clot.

In thinking about her case, and in other cases where gut feelings and quiet voices have made a difference, I am reminded of how God “speaks” to us. At least for me, I do not hear an audible voice giving me guidance. Instead, there is a sense in my spirit, a quiet voice, urging me in the right direction. (Sadly, it seems that often it is a voice urging me not to go in the direction I am heading!)

And just as my partner taught me in medicine, I do well to train myself to hear that voice, to pay attention to it and not dismiss it. It may not always make sense, it often will suggest a seemingly more difficult way, but “listening” to God's leading can prevent a world mistakes and pain!