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VOL V  NO. 11  NOVEMBER 2004

REV. ROBERT KELLEY

 


As A Man Thinks In His Heart, So He Is!

 

Rev. Robert Kelley is the founder and president of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. and pastored the St. Mark Baptist Church of Portland, Oregon at the time this was published.

 

In Proverbs 23:6-8, king Solomon warns against eating the bread of a miser because his all too reluctant heart to share his food with you will show in his face while you are eating completely nauseated.  In the midst of this Proverb, Solomon states a powerful truth about a man and his heart: "As he thinks in his heart, so is he," (Proverb 23:7a, NKJV).  Whatever is the pattern of thinking in your heart, that is what you are!  You think the thoughts of victimization and that is what you are, a victim.  But thanks be to God, we can choose our thoughts and change our thinking!

 

We have a choice as to how we will think in reaction to our life circumstances.  We can think as a victim and be overcome by the many self-destructive consequences or think as a victor through faith in Jesus Christ and overcome the world (John 16:33; Romans 8:33-39; I John 5:4-5)!  As we think, so are we!

 

The choice to think as a victim carries with it a myriad of mental, emotional and even physical consequences.  Among these consequences, fear reigns supreme, coloring the victim´s world with a dark pathos of suspicion, mistrust and cynicism.  Sadly, racism in America is still so pervasive as to cause most blacks in reflex to process negative encounters with whites as bigoted.  However, in fear and cynical suspicion, the black victim thinks all whites are against us, all the time!  This is not true, of course, but as a victim, that is how it seems.

 

Thus, the black American victim often experiences anger, resentment, bitterness and hate; every real or perceived act of white bigotry reinforcing the negative thought patterns of victimization which feed these emotional reactions.  Indeed, as I write I can keenly sense the lure of these flesh thoughts and will spend the rest of my life purposely rejecting them.  Why?  Because I am in denial, black history never happened and there are no bigots?  No!  The issue is not whether slavery and segregation happened or racial discrimination still occurs.  They did and it does!  The issue is how will I think and feel about these things in reaction.

 

The thoughts and feelings of victimization are self-destructive.  While as victims we want to place all of the blame for black woes at the feet of whites, the truth is they are not controlling our thoughts such that unable to resist, we are harming each other.  Whites are not afflicting our men with disproportionately higher incidents of mental illness because we are unable to cope as victims.  Whites are not forcing men and boys to degrade each other with the "N" and our women with the "B" as well as "W" words.  In choosing to think in our hearts as victims, we are, and choose the many forms of self-destruction as natural consequences.

 

The choice to think as a victor has no self-destructive consequences!  Such thinking is not wishful or positive as far as human effort is concerned.  It is the direct product of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ!  He overcame the world including its most certain and feared experience, death!  In Him, believers are equipped to overcome the world too in part by the renewing of our minds which changes not only our outlook, but our entire inner being (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:17-24)!  In Christ, we are a new creation; old ways of thinking, feeling and living pass away; everything becomes new (II Corinthians 5:17)!

 

Therefore, as a Christian, I willfully reject thinking the flesh thoughts of a victim, because in Christ I am able to think like and be a victor no matter how negative the situation confronting me (Romans 13:14)!  "Yeah, but aren´t you afraid "they" are doing this and "they" are going to do that?  "No!" For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind," (II Timothy 1:7, NKJV).

 

I can´t stop racial bigots from hating, slighting or mistreating me.  But in Christ, I can choose how I will think in reaction to what is done to me.  "Does it still hurt?"  Yes!  But instead of reacting in anger, which is the natural progression of victimization, I give my hurt to the Lord and await instructions.  If I am willing, He always provides me with healing, love and forgiveness for the offender.  Am I always willing?  No.  Many times I have failed.  However, upon my confession and repentance, the Lord´s forgiveness is made available to me.  I then resume bearing my cross (Luke 9:23-24).

 

At times, the Lord has directed me to confront racist conduct in the power of the Spirit and righteousness of His Word (John 18:19-23)!  From store clerks to police officers and preachers, I have been used of the Lord to challenge these persons about their actions.  And since government is of the Lord, the Just One (Romans 13:1-4), I have also used the legal process at His command to victoriously confront a case of racial discrimination in employment.  None of this was done in the bitter tone of a victim, but the peace and on occasion, the righteous zeal of a victor in Christ!

 

Finally, as a victor in Jesus Christ, I am able to think redemptively of the past and hopeful for the future.  About the past, I know God permitted the enslavement of our ancestors for purposes of good.  He used the satanically inspired greed and cruelty of those participant whites to accomplish this.  I also know that no one escapes the judgment of God.  He destroyed Babylon after using that nation to chasten Judah.   Those whites that have practiced racial bigotry will face the judgment of God without any recourse!  Consequently, for the future I pray for the repentance and salvation of my persecutors--neighbors, fellow American citizens and those professing to be Christians.

 

 

 

©2004 Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc