Set Your Mind Above

Episode #77 - Thank God for Good Advice

October 12, 2021 Season 1 Episode 77
Set Your Mind Above
Episode #77 - Thank God for Good Advice
Show Notes Transcript

Transparency moment: not a good day for me. I have so much going on all at the same time, and all of it kind of came to a head for me this morning emotionally. My wife, knowing me well, also knew how much I could use some encouragement and time to talk with her Dad, so she asked him to reach out to me. I didn't realize how much I needed his counsel, and I am so grateful for his love. Well...that's by God's design. We are dependent upon each other, even emotinally and spiritually, and God designed things so that the older would help equip the younger. We can all think of mentors and friends that have helped us in moments of need - don't take them for granted. Show them your gratitude for how they've loved you. 

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Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

Total transparency moment for you all with this podcast. Any time you put parts of your personal life out there for others to listen to and critique is a little vulnerable, but today I’m just going to be brutally honest with you all. I’m not doing very good right now. I don’t mean that in a sense to say I have some kind of serious sin going on in my life or that everything is falling apart, but I just feel and overwhelming weight on my shoulders and like I am stretched thin. There have been a lot of big stressors going on that are all hitting at the same time in my life that kind of led to me emotionally shutting down this morning. My grandmother on my mother’s side has had a sudden decline in her health, and I will likely find myself home in Oregon sooner than later to see her and help how I can, or I might never get that opportunity again. My grandmother on my father’s side is a whole mess that I cannot go into for legal reasons, but to be blunt I have to testify in court this week against people that have abused and manipulated her in some unfathomable ways, so that is weighing on me. Things are ramping up as we’re digging into some heavier topics with our preaching here at the church, and some new classes are starting that will take up some time too. The kids have picked up some kind of cold and we haven’t had a regular schedule for weeks now which contributes to their acting out, and then there is the ongoing pressures of life: catching up on medical bills, catching up on sleep, and catching up on time to be present for my wife, children, and others here that are a part of our church family. It’s not one thing, but a lot of things that I allowed to kind of build up and really foolishly tried to bury and suppress, and that all came out this morning. I just was not myself, it was as though I was awake but still sleeping. My body and brain just shut down, leaving my poor wife to try and figure out how to pull me out of my funk (which she always seems to know exactly how to do). Part of that included her messaging her Dad, my father in law Shane, to touch base with me and ask if I wanted to talk. I am as close to Shane as I am even my own father. He always has told me, like he did today on the phone, that even though he didn’t have the privilege of getting to raise me, that I am as much his son as the rest of his children. He has been a constant source of encouragement, counsel, and wisdom at so many crucial points in my life – and today I turned to him again. The first thing he did was listen as I poured a lot of stuff out on him, just expressing what I just did to you about how much all of this has built up. After I was finished, we spent about the next 15-20 minutes just talking about it all and me listening to him share his heart back with me. Shane has been through a lot in his life, many very difficult and hard things where a lot of weight was placed upon his own shoulders. The things he shared with me did not just come from a heart that is compassionate and wants to help bear my burdens, but from a place of experience and a mind full of wisdom. We talked about guilt, grace, support, and emotional outlets. Our tear filled conversation came to an end and something amazing happened: I suddenly felt like I was back up on my feet again. Nothing had changed about any of the difficult circumstances all happening at once in the time period of that phone call, but through his wise counsel and advice my perspective had changed. He was able to gently, humbly, and lovingly pick me up from the place that I was and set me back down where I needed to be. I am so grateful to have such a wise, kind, and thoughtful heart like his to go to so often. I am constantly in need of advice and direction in many areas of my life, and he is one of those people that I frequently go to when I need help.  I never want to take him for granted.
 
 It is by God’s design that relationships work this way. From the very beginning God knew that it was not good for man to be alone. While in the context that application primarily applies to the institution of marriage and the special union God has created between a husband and a wife, I believe we can understand something about the nature of people as whole from that statement. People need people. We were not designed to do things alone, and in fact most things that we are able to accomplish or do in our lives would not be possible if we were alone. We have a designed dependency upon one another, and so much of that dependency I believe to be spiritual and emotional in nature. When we are discouraged or distraught and can no longer bear our burdens alone, God does not only want us to look to him, but also to look to each other. Consider the following principles laid out to us in Scripture; Proverbs 19:20 says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” In Job 12:13, Job says, “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding,” but just prior to this in verse 12 he also wrote, “Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.” As we go through this life, we gain experience, we learn humility, and hopefully through both of these things we gain wisdom and insight. This is why by God’s design it is those who are older who are to teach and instruct those who are younger. It is not about superiority, but it is about helping to equip those who are younger to handle and do things that they are not able to take on themselves – both emotionally and spiritually too. Today I was the beneficiary of Galatians 6:2, where we are told to, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The law of Christ is debated among some, but I truly believe the law Paul references is not any law, but that which summarized all of the law: to love one another. I was in need of help and encouragement today. My burdens were heavy and I needed someone to love me enough to help me bear them, and to remind me that I’m not supposed to bottle these things up and try to deal with them alone. Today those people happened to be my wife and my father in law, but to add to this list all of those who have helped to do this for me in the past would take more time than we have today. Today I am simply feeling overwhelmingly grateful to God who in his great wisdom knew that we needed others to help us along the way in our walk. As you have listened to this, there is no doubt that others have come into your mind that currently or in the past have been the ones that you have gone to in a time of need for counsel and advice. They are the ones that have sat with you, listened to you, prayed with you, guided you and loved you through some difficult times in your life. They are the first ones that you call after you have gone to your Father in prayer over a matter, and they are the ones that will always answer. I want to encourage you to do two things as a result today. First, I want you simply to be reminded not to take on too much all by yourself. You weren’t designed to do this alone, it’s okay to ask for help – be it physical, intellectual, emotional, or spiritual. Second, I want you to stop and thank God for these people. Thank him for the ones you call that help to bear your burdens, and then thank them for how they have loved you through the years. Most of us would not be where we are without them, and so I’ll say it again…thank God for good advice. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.