“Signal Selection”

“Signal Selection”

July 27, 2016

Cell phones are amazing. The small device I hold in my hand has no visible connections. It appears to be self-contained – we could say isolated. But we know otherwise. You can be thousands of miles away when you dial my number and that little unit connects to your signal so we can talk. When our youth team traveled outside the USA, I received daily updates on their activities by way of text messages on my cell phone.

What is mind-boggling is that the atmosphere is filled with millions of messages being sent and received around Planet Earth, but my unit picks up just the ones intended for me. It is selective in what it receives. Think of how useless it would be if all of the messages came to my cell phone and I had to sort out which ones were intended for me.

I thought about the communication process that takes place between Creator God and me. When I trusted Jesus as my God and Savior, the Spirit of God joined with my spirit and lives within me. As I read the Bible, its words enter my thoughts and the Spirit takes those thoughts and motivates my mind to think correctly – to actually think God’s thoughts. When I am thinking His thoughts, I have His attitude and make good choices.

But the reality is that there are a lot of other ideas entering my mind and influencing my thinking. Some of them are not appropriate. I have to sort out which thoughts to accept and ponder, and which ones to reject. My mind is not like the cell phone that does the selecting for me. I have to be diligent to filter the barrage of information coming into my mind and do a continual selection and rejection process.

As time goes by and practice matures this process, I find it easier to recognize which thoughts should remain and those that need to be rejected. But the need to be aware of “intruders” is always present because the counterfeit god, Satan, is very clever at slipping in hurtful thoughts that are intended to cause damage.

The presence of my cell phone reminds me to be selective in my thought life.

Pastor Bill Ehmann

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT POSTS

Mentored By Memories

By wvbaptist | May 22, 2019 | 0 Comments

May 22, 2019 The Roman leader Cicero is credited with these words: “Memory is the treasure of all things and their guardian.” I can only wonder what motivated him to say this, but it has led me to think about […]

Looking For The Positive

By Jerry Fast | May 15, 2019 | 0 Comments

May 15, 2019 I read a story about a man who lived 10 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit.  While in prison, he became a follower of Jesus.  He called the 10 years a bargain.  […]

Mother’s Day

By wvbaptist | May 8, 2019 | 0 Comments

May 8, 2019 It is appropriate to have a day of special focus on mothers, but I fear that she is neglected far too many of the other days of the year. Many special days are like that. How many […]

Ignored Warnings

By wvbaptist | May 1, 2019 | 0 Comments

May 1, 2019 Humans have a tendency to ignore warnings. The pattern started in the Garden of Eden with the first couple. Despite a direct statement from Creator God, they failed to heed the one limitation He placed on them. […]

Persistent Peter

By wvbaptist | April 25, 2019 | 1 Comment

April 24, 2019 The Apostle Peter gets many comments about his tendency to speak before thinking. I find his life an encouragement because I struggle with the same issue. Apparently, both of us needed to master the principle of James […]

Scroll to Top