“You can be the air traffic controller of your mental airport. You occupy the control tower and can direct the mental traffic of your world. Thoughts circle above, coming and going. If one of them lands, it is because you gave it permission. If it leaves, it is because you directed it to do so. You can select your thought pattern.”- Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing (2019)
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”- 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
Max Lucado continues Chapter 2 of Tame Your Thoughts with a discussion about what to do with a thought once you capture it. First, Max suggests, evaluate that thought. Test it against the teaching of Jesus. Because the Bible serves as the God-given standard against which everything is measured.
However, Pastor Lucado wonders, can we truly believe that all Scripture is God-breathed? For, he stresses, one cannot overstate the immensity of this question. Some people, in contrast, view the Bible as full of superstitions and stories. As a result, their seedbed of truth consists of horoscopes, bar buddies, or social media posts.
Therefore, Max responds with four good reasons to accept the Bible as the source of God’s truth. He covers reasons 1 and 2 today.
1. Jesus believed it. Jesus quoted Scripture when the devil came to tempt Him (see Matthew 4:1-10). In addition, when Jesus rose from the dead, He taught from Scripture. In Luke 24:25-27 (NIV) we read:
“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with the Moses and the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures about himself.”
2. Fulfilled prophecies confirm it. During His lifetime, Christ fulfilled 332 distinct prophecies. Most significantly, the mathematical probability of one man doing that is 840 untrigintillion (that’s 840 followed by 96 zeroes).
Consequently, you can trust the Bible. Because prophecies authenticate it.
Today’s question: What Bible verses help you function as the air traffic controller of your thoughts? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Monitor your default thoughts”