Blowing Our Minds

June 03, 2021

Pastor Ken Brown Jr

Hi, this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Blowing Our Minds! Have you ever had your mind blown? If you are like me, it has happened countless times. Some of those you recall others you do not. Some were likely categorized as positive experiences, while others were filed in the not-so-much receptacle. Sometimes when our minds are blown it is such a powerful experience we want to go share it with somebody…anybody that will listen. Other times it leaves us a bit shell-shocked and we really just want to be alone with our thoughts. Just uttering the term ‘Having our mind blown’ conjures up all kinds of mental images. There is even a well-used emoji to express to someone that what they have just shared with us has had that effect. What does the term mean? Certainly we are not trying to say that a literal explosion has just happened between our ears. That would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we have already agreed that it has happened many, many times. So what do we mean? When I use the term, I mean that I wasn’t ready to consider whatever I find myself having to consider. That was a mouthful. What I mean is that if one of my grandkids ‘blows my mind’ they probably just did or said something I would not have expected them to say or do. If Pastor Rick ‘blows my mind’ he has likely revealed a truth or a concept from God’s word that I have not yet considered and would not have considered if Pastor hadn’t offered it up for thought. If my sweet wife has just ‘blown by mind’ she simply entered the room, or answered to a call of “Mrs. Brown…” It still ‘blows my mind’ that woman said yes when I asked her to marry me! When people ‘blow our minds’ they have caused our mind to stretch beyond its normal limitations because they have said or done something beyond the expected. Though not a literal one, an explosion of thought has just taken place inside the realm of our consciousness. As Christ followers these “explosions” should be happening with regularity. In fact, I would say taking into account the after-shocks, our minds should be under a continual state of bombardment. I believe there are two premises we need to get settled if we are to allow God to ‘blow our minds’ on a regular basis. First we have to understand that we don’t understand. What I mean by that is that we have to start from the position that we have not, do not, nor will we ever be equipped on this side of heaven to fully comprehend the word of God. God says of Himself in Isiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Did you hear that? As much higher as the heavens are than the earth…which part of the heavens is He talking about? Is He referring to the Troposphere that extends heavenward about 12 miles? Perhaps instead He is referencing the Stratosphere with goes farther upward to nearly 30 miles above the earth. Maybe God meant His thoughts were higher like the Mesosphere which reaches 53 miles above the planet, or perhaps it was the Thermosphere He had in mind when He made this statement to Isiah which would extend 372 miles above the earth. Maybe it was the exosphere or outer-space He was thinking of. Is your ‘mind blown yet’? The truth of the matter is the full depth God’s thoughts are out of reach for you and I. And yet, we are instructed to seek to know Him above all else. Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us: Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. To whatever level we are able we are to seek to know the Lord, to know His word and to understand it as best we can…AND to welcome Him to ‘blow our mind’ as He further reveals greater and greater truth…even if it undoes something we thought we already had settled. Second, we have to recognize that we are seeking to understand the Living Word of God. It is not stagnant; it does not simply have one application for its truth. It is truth that is always applicable. As our lives change, as other people around us ‘blow our minds’ (not necessarily in a positive way) and we find ourselves questioning everything. God’s word is that Living truth that we can run to for stabilization, for discernment, for understanding…for truth that will allow our reactions and responses to be grounded in godliness. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Paul summed it up beautifully in Ephesians 3:14-21 where essentially he writes that he is praying that the mind of the reader will be blown. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. So now, expecting and inviting God to blow your mind continuously…go be awesome!