What is at the forefront of our mind is generally what consumes our thoughts, most of the time that is the day-to-day routine that we have fixed upon our lives. The amount of those thoughts can be fixated upon only that which we choose, it is our decision to make.
I have yet to meet a parent whose child has been involved in an accident who is more concerned with being late for work. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5)
This verse and others like it do not mean except in certain circumstances, the parent who knows Christ will pray earnestly for the welfare of their child in that situation, but will that same parent leave the vicinity of his friends when an off-colored joke or story is being presented, will he seek the face of God in the sunny day as well as the dry and thirsty land and the severe storm. For every circumstance of life, no matter where we are, no matter what is happening to us or around us, no matter if we see life continuing or the end of it approaching, the loving servant of the Most High God keeps one thought continuously in the front of his mind, “Thy will be done.”
How many can say with David, “I shall go to him.” (2 Sam. 12:23) “I don’t want this Lord, I don’t understand it, and I don’t need to, I don’t even need to be taught anymore in it than Thy will be done.”
I believe there are few who live this life, the world sees it as a defeatist mentality, giving up without even trying, many who profess Christ cannot fathom that the prayers they have earnestly offered were not answered in the way that they wanted, and so even if their faith is not discernably diminished, the God that they have envisioned the Lord to be is not always held in the same supposed high esteem that He once was. “Thy will be done” means that in all sincerity it does not matter what happens to us, it does not matter what happens to those we love or the things we own, all that matters is that the Lord God is glorified.
To be crucified with Christ is to die to self, and again I believe few that repeat these words truly comprehend what they mean. “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20) Complete and total submission without hesitation, total obedience in all things no matter the circumstances, willing service with no questioning of the motives.
Try to envision the mind of Moses when after attempting to offer excuses to the Lord at the burning bush what he thought in that moment when the anger of the Lord was kindled against him. I don’t believe the word fear quite covers it. Consider Luke 22:44, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” When our Lord asked if there was any other way. Consider the billions of people that are going to die when the Tribulation period begins. “Thy will be done” is best said in the storm, in the valley of the shadow of death, for it comes then from the one who means it, the one who has determined that He who offered up His own Son knows best, all the time.
If every thought is kept captive for Christ, then every thought revolves around glorifying the Lord God, every circumstance in our life is answered with those four words. Obeying the Almighty is more than doing what we have been commanded to do, it is doing so in love, in complete and total trust that “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) If you have been born-again, then your life is not your own, and that is an unspeakable joy. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Tim. 1:12)
