DO YOU AND I HAVE A ONE-TRACK MIND?

     In 1953, one year before I was born, Lionel Train Company had a promotional campaign entitled “A ONE-TRACK MIND!” Here is a picture of the promotion. Lionel touted the fact that young boys were fixated on—and almost obsessed about having a Lionel train and track set.
     So my question today is—is it good to have a one-track mind?
     When I became a Christian some people in my family, and others thought I was way too focused on God and Christianity. They told me several times that they didn’t want to hear from me about their need for God.
     I also worked many years in a community mental health center, and sometimes in meetings with other mental health professionals, I heard the words, “religiously preoccupied” as it related to specific clients. These professionals shared their concern about clients who in their words were going “off the deep end” with their religious views—and their concern that the religious preoccupation would take those clients further into unreality.
     Psychologists tout the benefits of having a well-rounded mind with various interests. While they understand that some of our greatest inventions and creative performances come from people that are obsessed with a focus on one thing--they readily discuss the pitfalls of those obsessions.
     Reading Acts in the Bible has given me some perspective about having a one-track mind about our Christianity. I’m sure that Paul and the apostles had other interests that they talked about among themselves and with other people. But the writers of the Acts never made it evident. Everywhere the apostles went they shared Jesus with people in large crowds—and small gatherings. Nothing interfered with their purpose of sharing the gospel with everyone they met. Acts 28:30-31 sums it up:

“Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house (in Rome). And he welcomed all who visited him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

     It could be said of Paul from those verses that he had a one-track mind focused, obsessed if you will, on sharing the love of Jesus with others. Do you and I have such a one-track mind?

POWER GRID INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEMS

     In the last year, our electric power has gone off about four times, sometimes for extended hours. Mostly it was due to the weather, or a car hitting a pole. But we have frequently been hearing in the news about the fragile state of the power grid infrastructure in the United States.
     I think we as Christians also have power grid infrastructure problems. What we’re lacking is an up-to-date power grid infrastructure in our lives to be able to access the great power God has for us. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:19 the following:

“—what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”

     What then is the infrastructure that we’re lacking? I’ll give a few ideas that I have.

1. I think we have a lack of knowledge of the 385 times that power is mentioned in the Bible, most of those times related to God’s power, Jesus’ power, the power of the Holy Spirit, and lastly the power God makes available to us as believers.
2. If we do know about the many, many mentions of power, I think if you are like me, it’s difficult to internalize and know how to access that great power that’s available to us.
     

     How then do we bolster this power grid infrastructure in our lives? Again, I have a few ideas.

1. If you have a Bible computer app or program, just type in the word “power”, and look up the almost innumerable references to God’s power, and especially His power available to us who believe.
2. Write down several of those verses and put them in your prayer list or journal.
3. Meditate daily on those scriptures about power.
4. Pray fervently that God shows you His great power available to you.
5. Remember that God is ready and very willing to allow you to access His great power. Jeremiah 33:3 states: 

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things which you do not know."

6. Talk to other believers about God’s great power available to us, and pray that it will have a snowball effect collectively in the lives of the believers around us.

7. Remember, this isn’t the power to get rich and successful—but it’s the power to fulfill God’s will in our lives to bring glory to Him.

8. I believe strongly that the main way to bring glory to Him is to tell others about His wonderful love for them—and to tell them how to have a relationship with Him.