God woke me up at 03:57am today, October 14, 2023. I prayed, grabbed for coffee, and settled into reading my set-work, Canoeing the Mountains, for college. I am doing an MA in leadership through Trinity Bible College and Graduate School, Ellendale, North Dakota, USA.
Tod Bolsinger’s, Canoeing the Mountains is prolific. Besides being Christian-focused, the value of his knowledge touches across fields that can benefit from his academic and experiential expertise. His quote, “indeed, like most people, what you do is default to what you know. You do again, what you have always done before,” is profound. It is this that has motivated this blog. I am glad for it as I have been asking God to help me write a blog. It has been months since my last piece. My studies, and personal Bible reading has taken up all free time; time I’d have spent writing blog, now, I write assignments.
So what does it take to move away from default?
Afterall, the Holy Bible tells us to not conform, Romans 12:2, which challenges us to move out of default setting.
Albert Einstein prompts us with some advice that echoes Romans 12:2.
Sarah Cy, How to Heal a Broken Mind, Medium, September 29, 2018 poses a valuable insight about deception that has led us to default dysfunction.
Romans 12:2, Bolsinger, Einstein, and Cy, all drive us to examine what is in our mind that got us to this point. To move beyond this point it will require learning new things so that we know other things so that we can detour from default.
IBE, ‘Science of Learning Portal, September 18, 2019, Neuroplasticity: How the Brain Changes with Learning, offers excellent insights into the physiological effects of learning that moves us away from default.
If physiological effects are measurable in the brain through learning to change default mindsets, then Philippians 4:8 becomes, evidently, crucial, if “for better” is the goal we learn for to begin with.
The incredible thing is that God WANTS to help us move from default into better by helping us learn His Truth, which is THE TRUTH. We see this in the writing of James. James was Jesus’s half-brother who went from unbelief into believing Jesus is The Lord- “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1).
BetterTogether, 10 Bible Verses to Renew Your Mind, points out some practices to help us begin our detour from default.
Senior Pastor, Andre Olivier, Rivers Church, Sandton, South Africa, Pt4: The Book of James, shared a prolific quote, Tyndale Commentaries, in church on Sunday, October 13, 2024, that speaks to default understandings that shape misbeliefs about religion and who God is.
Bearing all this in mind as we examine how to detour from default, David Diga Hernandez, drives home Philippians 4:8.
PRAYER:
Father God,
Please help me to be willing to change. Bestow on me the desire to learn from You, and to be transformed by You. Help me to shift my focus from default-self that is conditioned by the world, and to detour through the power of Jesus to who You say that I am. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit to guide me into Your Truth as You grow me into being a Philippians 4:8 child of God.
In Your Holy Name King Jesus.
AMEN.
#Hayibo 