A person’s thoughts are demonstrated on a daily basis. The way that someone thinks eventually becomes apparent to all. There is no way of getting around this. The Lord Jesus Christ made this evident in Matthew 12:34, "...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Whatever is in a person’s heart will eventually come out of the mouth and then be demonstrated in one’s actions. This is another way of saying cause and effect or the spiritual precedes the physical.
Spirituality is characterized by thinking ahead and making appropriate plans. This is the wise approach to any situation. The alternative to this is to do things rashly or impulsively. Doing things in such a manner demonstrates a lack of thought and preplanning. Impulsiveness is doing things in the immediate moment without any understanding of the consequences of one’s actions. Impulsiveness is essentially mindlessness. It is the thought level of a very little child. Impulsiveness is foolishness.
Two examples will make the contrast between being impulsive and having foresight. A neighbor was helping another neighbor whose boyfriend had locked the keys in the car. They tried getting the door open using various methods with no avail. A locksmith had been called and he told her that it would cost $35. This lady told my neighbor that she did not have $35, so she took a brick and broke out a car window.
She wanted to get into the car without considering the ramifications of breaking the window. This demonstrates a lack of appreciating the consequences of her actions. This is mindlessness. It required no thought because she acted in the immediate moment. She does not plan ahead by having financial reserves in case of emergencies. She lives like an animal who does thing solely on instinct without reasoning.
If she does get the window fixed (highly unlikely or she may put a piece of plastic over it), it will cost her about $185, if not more. Not planning ahead is costly in the long run. She got what she wanted, her car open, but the price is high as compared to what it would have cost her had she paid the locksmith to open her door. These are the kind of people who live in poverty and survive on government assistance.
On the other hand, when I went to work, my car started hesitantly. I got to the place where I park my car and turned it off. I then started it up again and it did fine. At the end of the work day, I went to start my car but it would not start. I thought the battery was dead. So I took the work truck home and went out and did my daily run. All the while I was running, I was thinking about what I needed to do to get my car running again.
I weighed different options. In other words, I was thinking ahead and making plans before I acted. This is foresight. I had also prayed to the Lord about the situation. When I was doing my cool down, I saw my neighbor’s son’s pickup. I went over and talked to my neighbor’s son and he agreed to come and see what he could do to help. We were able to get the car running again by jumping it.
I knew that I was not going to drive it home and just assume that all would be well just because it started again. So I drove the car from where it was to an Advanced Auto Store by my house. An Advanced Auto Store clerk hooked up the battery to his tester and lo and behold the test said I had a bad battery. So I got the least expensive battery since my car is old and I use it mainly just to get around town. It cost me $76.53 for the battery plus tax.
I could have assumed that the battery would start again once I stopped the car, but I did not want to take that unnecessary risk. This is because I knew the consequences would be having a car that would not start again. When people do not have financial reserves for emergencies they do many foolish things, as the first example demonstrated. It is wise to save money for emergency purposes. This shows thinking ahead and making provision.
No comments:
Post a Comment