My table tennis coach is getting disillusioned. Despite his best efforts, decades of playing with the wrong technique have apparently made me unteachable. I’ve got muscle-memory of the wrong kind. The poor guy is doubly frustrated by my occasional shot that goes exactly where it should, flattering to deceive.
By way of analogy we have ‘spiritual muscle memory’, ingrained patterns of thinking – neural pathways - that need transformation. Fortunately, instead of a coach, we have a Lord who offers exactly that (Romans 12:2) and even better He cannot be disillusioned. He had no illusions in the first place.
What better season than Lent to recommit to the ‘transformation by the renewing of our mind’ Jesus intends for us? Here are some bad mental habits I think He wants me, and maybe you too, to give up for Lent. In fact, to give up for good. For good in every sense.
- Comparing. ‘Who’s the greatest?’ is a question to which Jesus gives short shrift (Matthew 18:1). Let’s stop asking it in our heads, let alone out loud.
- Thanklessness. According to a Gospel survey recorded by Doctor Luke, 9 out of 10 healed lepers suffer from this (Luke 17:17). Instead, praise the Lord and forget not all His benefits.
- Knee-jerk criticism of all those in authority. Instead, let us linger longer in prayer for the unenviable vocations of decision-makers in parliament; for those this month in General Synod; amongst them, our Bishops and Archbishops.
- Inattentiveness to God-given, kairos moments of opportunity A priest and a Levite once refused the inconvenience of interruption to their agendas. A Good Samaritan gives us an alternative role model. Let us think more like him and then, as Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
Prayers for a transformative Lent.
Written by Revd Jonathan Mortimer