“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
I freely admit I’ve been in somewhat of a rut lately. With the first phase of moving completed and the chilly winter months, it was easy to cozy up and slip into a routine of the same old, same old. The dictionary defines a rut as a habit or pattern that has become dull and unproductive. Interestingly, it also says a rut is a long, deep track made by repeated passage of the wheels of vehicles. The dictionary didn’t list it, but in the medical world, the same terminology describes paths formed in the brain called neural pathways. Our neural pathways or ruts are formed by learning. The more we repeat a routine, the deeper the channel gets. The fascinating fact is that these microscopic ruts can be seen during an autopsy. The brain’s nature is to save energy. It requires far less cognitive thought or energy to keep doing or continue thinking the same way than it does to learn something new. Our habitual tasks and thought pattern ruts keep getting deeper and deeper, and consequently because it requires much more cognitive energy, it is hard to get out of the old and make new tracks. Hence, why established habits are hard to break; you have to dig a new rut.
Imagine driving a car along a narrow dirt road. Due to the lack of pavement, deep tracks have been formed by the vehicles repeatedly driving down the road. You are gripping the steering wheel tightly as you navigate the road because thinking you could jump the rut and get out of the well-worn path is nerve-wracking. Where would this new path take me? Would I crash the car off the side of the road? Or would the new way make the drive easier? Most of the time, because it is the easier path and elicits much less fear, we stay on the well-worn road. Our brains, thoughts, and actions are in a literal rut.
But God, in His Word, commands us to react differently. In Romans 12:2, Paul urges us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Renewing the mind means learning new things and thinking new thoughts. God designed this prescription for getting out of a rut long before modern-day psychology. The irony here is that modern psychology actually agrees with God. Though I doubt they would admit it, the remedy is the same. How do Christians get out of a spiritual rut or renew their minds? By opening our minds to God’s way of thinking. We do that by consistently reading the Word, not just scanning the text with a preconceived personal interpretation. But asking the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts to what God has to say about a particular passage. The Scriptures are the Living Word of God. Seeing the scriptures as “Living” is an amazing fact that I believe many Christians forget or don’t realize. We get into the rut of seeing the same scriptures in the same light. But when we open up our minds to be renewed, God can use the same scripture you have read fifty times to speak to you in your circumstances today in a completely different way than that scripture did last year. That’s because they are alive! I get so excited when God reveals something in a familiar scripture through Bible study or solid Biblical teaching that I had never considered before. Or to feel the Holy Spirit’s comfort and peace as a familiar scripture is used as a balm for a new pain or heartache. Every day could hold something exciting or comforting if we get out of our ruts and open our hearts and minds to be renewed by God’s Word. And that’s your Tuesday Tidbit.
The picture is our new pickleball paddles. We are going to learn something new!