Mental Alignment

If you've driven a car for any length of time, you have probably experienced bad wheel alignment. When the wheels of a car are not in proper alignment, the car tends to veer either to the right or to the left of your intended path. One struggles to hold the steering wheel straight to avoid an accident. A wise person will get the alignment fixed instead of continuing to fight with the steering wheel. Also, the tires will wear down much more quickly if the alignment problem is not corrected.

The Christian life may be compared to driving a car. Disciples are interested in moving toward God as revealed in Christ, so we steer our lives in that direction. Some are driving better than others, but each of us has Christ and his Kingdom as our aim.

There are some people who only want to drive. They don't want to be bothered by looking under the hood and checking the wires and gears. They neglect to check their tire alignment, but commend themselves for struggling to drive. After all, they are "practical." It's too much of a hassle to get into all the detailed analysis of what's going on under the hood and with the tires. "Leave that to the impractical theorists!" they might say.

Too many Christians disdain indepth theological reflection. This is somewhat understandable because of the opposite error. There are many who study theory and "doctrine" without it impacting their lives or affections. They have a kind of "dead orthodoxy." The error of dead orthodoxy is always a danger for the Christian church. We can easily delude ourselves into thinking that the tree of knowledge is the tree of life.

With that said, it seems to me that this is not the tendency today. The prevalent error in our evangelical culture is doctrinal apathy. The "practical" is thought to be antithetical to theology or systematics. Such thinking is unbiblical and foolish.

Scripturally, right thinking is prior to good actions. Paul exhorts believers to be humble and loving by encouraging them to do an indepth reflection on Christ's incarnation. Virtuous affections and actions are never seperated from correct thinking about God as specifically revealed in and through Christ. Right theory joined to the affections drove the Apostles to turn the world upside down for Christ's sake.

I cannot understand any Christian who is not taking time to renew their minds while striving to live to God's glory. The connection between right theory and right practice seems so obvious in the bible. An erroneous thought about God in our thinking can have a ripple effect into every sphere of life, hence the biblical warnings about worshipping God truthfully. The connections of our thoughts form a complete web of beliefs, and we move in life according to the alignment of the threads. We need to adjust our thinking to be in line with scriptural teaching so that we can move efficiently and wisely through life. Or, to return to the car analogy, we should be concerned about our mental alignment as we seek to move to glorify God by our actions.

NKJ Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

"To despise theory is to have the excessively vain pretension to do without knowing what one does, and to speak without knowing what one says." Fontenelle

"Temples have their sacred images; and we see what influence they have always had over a great part of mankind; but, in truth, the ideas and images in men's minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern them; and to these they all pay universally a ready submission." Jonathan Edwards

"It is the habitual thought that frames itself into our life. It affects us even more than our intimate social relations do. Our confidential friends have not so much to do in shaping our lives as thoughts have which we harbor." J. W. Teal