No Black Bears
One of our boys came home from elementary school with an unusual challenge he tried out on me. He said, “I bet you can’t stand in a corner and not think about a black bear.” My immediate reaction was that was silly, because I never think about black bears unless I encounter one on our family farm. But that specific challenge had my brain unconsciously rehearsing, “Don’t think about a black bear. Don’t think about a black bear…”
In what seems an unrelated story, a co-worker who had been a missionary to Tahiti once shared about the very primitive lives of the natives and how he missed that simplicity. He was impressed that they had relatively nothing in terms of worldly goods but were perfectly contented. However, that changed when American catalogues were introduced into the culture and they realized they needed refrigerators and TVs.
We live in a society permeated with messages that greatly impact our thinking, both subtle and overt in influence. For instance, I never think about buying a new car until Christmas advertising convinces me how nice it would be to wake up to that romantic surprise on Christmas morning. My gullibility is the point. We are all very susceptible to the power of suggestion. The less we recognize that fact, the more likely we are to be duped.
Lance Wallnau, a respected Christian leader, identified what he calls the seven mountains of influence: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. All of these are at work all the time sending us messages. The danger comes in assuming that experts in their respective fields are unfailingly reliable. But are they? How do we determine what to believe, recognize the lies of special interest groups, and not fall victim to this subtle, persistent programming?
An effective starting place is to ask whether the information I am receiving is giving me peace or increasing my stress. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Are we fearful about what our government is or is not doing? What are our children learning from media and entertainment, not to mention school? Has the truth of scripture been compromised by human efforts to be loving and inclusive? On every mountain of influence, peace has become illusive. Paul very effectively identifies the problem and asserts a position that is both responsive and proactive. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
The black bears of thought are always vying for dominance, and the sad reality is this will only increase. But God’s Word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). In the power and illumination of Christ, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The daily onslaught of information requires that we daily implement God’s remedy which has not changed throughout time: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8)