Hello, and welcome to Enbolden, living a bold Christian life. I'm Chris Shutter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Jesus Mindset as we take our second look at the Jesus Mindset, the Wise Counselor. Today's look at the Jesus Mindset, the Wise Counselor, is actually titled, Retire from Self-Care.
Now, we start with 1 Peter 5'7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. In this quote from Joyce Meyer, I believe Jesus died to deliver ourselves from ourselves. How many of us are just fed up being ourselves all the time?
The darkness, fury, and despair of the young woman sitting next to me grew with each passing minute. We were so close I could feel her shoulder touching mine. Sitting on the airplane we found ourselves in that strange world of invading each other's personal space while pretending neither existed. Her billowing clouds seemed to want to seep over the dividing line of the armrest to pull me in.
This seemingly quiet, unassuming young woman opened her computer and began pounding on her keyboard like the devil itself was trying to escape her fingertips. My eyes drifted to her brightly lit screen. I couldn't help but notice the many words in all capitals. And I was drawn to know what was causing her so much angst.
It appeared she was writing a complaint letter about a work environment. And as her fingers marched like Roman soldiers across the keyboards pounding and erasing and pounding some more, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the battle. She was hurt and outraged. She felt betrayed and abused.
Her past hurt served as the basis of why her employer should have known better. And then those pounding keys suddenly slammed the lid of the smoking computer closed and her fury still burned. You could almost see the sparks coming from her. Over the course of the next three and a half hours I watched this woman join numerous times in the battle, editing and adding and pounding.
And then she started in on an email to her family. I kept praying that she once there was internet service would have a change of heart and not send off the bomb she was composing. But alas, before deplaining, she picked up her phone and started with the same fervor sending off salvos via text messaging. I have never seen a person's fingers move with such speed and aggressiveness.
Like driving past a car accident, I couldn't seem to look away. I've come to realize that God puts me in all types of situations to test and teach me. I was learning a valuable lesson here. You see, my tendency to get outraged over unfair situations is something I've battled with forever.
As I watch this young woman blow up at probably everyone in her life, I realize how much I need God to lead me out of my sin. How much I need God to provide me with a different perspective. How much I need to rely on God for peace. What I wanted to do was turn to her and ask if she knew about Jesus.
I wanted to wrap Jesus's love around her, to somehow snap her mind off her problems and look up to God. I could turn and look at this woman and see my own face looking back at me. And I didn't want to be that girl. In 2019, there were more than 18 million self-help type books sold at the United States.
The number of unique titles rose nearly threefold from over 30,000 in 2013 to over 85,000 in 2019. That's a lot of people trying to fix themselves. Isn't that so often what we turn to our friends and coworkers and professionals for advice on fixing our problems? Aren't we exhausted yet trying to fix ourselves?
As the world drifts farther from God, it shouldn't be surprising that so many people are working so hard to fix their own problems. Jesus came to save our souls, but I believe he also came to save us from ourselves, just like Joyce Myers said. In fact, she also said the only way we are ever ready for a change in our life is when we are tired of, quote, me. When we say we cannot continue to do the work of trying to make ourselves happy, we are fed up.
You see, when we stop striving, stop trying to control what other people think of us, stop trying to please everyone, stop shaming ourselves for our past, stop playing the victim, and start putting God as our King, our Creator, our Lord, we can release that yoke of our fleshly life. John 635 says, then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. And follow him.
Retire from our self-care routines. Self-care isn't trying to fix ourselves. Certainly, we take care of ourselves, our minds and bodies, but God always calls us to take a new perspective in every aspect of our lives. When we take time to meditate, what do we meditate on?
When we decide what's best to eat or how to stay in shape, who do we do it for? Why do we word vomit all over our family and friends trying to get them to see our side, for ourselves or for our Heavenly Father? I've heard an evangelist teacher make this statement many times, I was always on my mind. I was so selfish.
And to change that, this evangelist created these three steps. One, live to please God, not yourself. You are making a kingdom investment, and you will always get a great return on your investment. Refuse to have a me on my mind all the time mentality.
I'm not thinking about what's wrong with me all the time or how I can get people to do things for me. Always use money and things to bless people. Don't use people to get money and things. Jesus frequently took the focus of himself and placed it on God.
He prayed for help in times of pain and trouble. He told the disciples to look to the Father. He guided new believers to putting away their shame and accepting forgiveness from God. The times he had to solidify his place as a Savior, he seemed almost reluctant.
The focus for Jesus the man was always God and how to best please him. In my study on Revelation I was asked the question, how does the fact that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords affect your everyday choices and decisions? In other words, getting off ourselves, off our own minds and onto the Creator. I'm finally leaning on him more as my wise counselor.
He's my exercise coach, my nutritional advisor, my mental wellness guru. When I see my mind and body as belonging to him, I realize the responsibility I have to keep myself focused on what he wants for me. And believe me, I fail frequently. And when I do, I come back to him seeking and receiving forgiveness.
I encountered that young angry hurt woman at the end of my trip. Before it had even started, however, I failed to grab hold onto God's promised peace by my favorite method of failure, outrage. The TSA officer and I had a bit of a confrontation when I was checking my bags through. I blustered and was rude.
And as I walked away, I realized I was wearing my silver cross around my neck. And I may have even flushed an embarrassment. I failed to show grace and patience and forgiveness. I took the situation personally and it made it all about me.
The difference for me at that moment was instead of adding it to my vault of shame. I realized it and I lifted it up to God. I had a counseling moment with him. I felt his disappointment and his love.
It set me on a course to be more aware of my behavior choices while in that crowded airport. Grace Meyer also once said, we are in the middle between hating sin and sitting. When we aren't accustomed to making good choices, it's hard. The devil is working against us.
The more often we make those good choices, it becomes easier. And so on my return flight, as I sat next to the woman with fire bursting from her fingertips and like lava flowing out on her family, friends and coworkers, burning bridges left and right, I wanted to be like Jesus. To be able to look her in the eye and know her hurts her overwhelming pain and say, follow me. 2 Corinthians 5, 15 says, and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.
It wasn't a counseling moment for her, although I prayed for her. It was a reminder message to me, to live for Jesus, to place my thoughts on Jesus, to release my pain and hurts to him, to stop trying to defend and take care of myself, to trust that he wants the best for me and will guide me to whatever that looks like, to take my mind off me and have the mind of Christ. Have a great day. I'd love to hear from you and find out more about how you are living out your bold Christian life.
You can find me on Instagram at embolden-the-oh or at my blog at embolden.net.