[ Hello! Many of you have "been with us" from the beginning of "Heart Talk For Today". We're sure (well, we hope) you remember us making an encouraging request for you to "consider" what we were sharing. Please allow us to share a two part article, which I believe truly makes clear what my personal desire has been when I have said, "Please, consider". ]

Part 1 of 2...

Dr. Peter M. Senge, in his work The Fifth Discipline, discusses several different types of openness, such as Participative, Operational, and Reflective. It is the latter that really attracted my attention. "Reflective Openness" is described as the capacity to continually challenge one's own thinking. It is an openness to inward examination; to introspection and serious reflection on all matters affecting one's focus in life.

There is, unfortunately, an almost inherent tendency among the human species to reach a point of self-satisfied and self-righteous closed-mindedness. When this mindset is evident within us, the reflective process is rendered impotent .... and often, as a result, so also are we! Paul's charge "examine yourselves!" (2 Cor. 13:5) is a broad-based and far-reaching one. The nature of our faith, and whether or not we are even in the faith, are to an extent conditional upon our compliance with that charge. Genuine faith is not evidenced, nor is it enhanced, by a closed mind. Those whose hearts and minds remain open, who are willing to continually and genuinely challenge their own thinking and hold up their own convictions to the light of God's Word, are those who will grow in their faith and understanding. The rest will simply stagnate in the still pond of their carefully guarded dogmas.

Far too many disciples deflect Truth, rather than reflect upon it, because Truth is simply too often found to be incompatible with their own previously accepted beliefs. Such biblical dishonesty and religious arrogance erects a shield of isolationism and exclusivism that effectively blocks out all incoming challenges to its cherished conclusions. One's perceptions, practices, and preferences become the standard by which all else and all others are measured .... and most often found lacking. To dare to be either reflective or open is to risk being viewed with suspicion by those safely fortified behind the walls of their settled traditions and party precepts. Those who dare to challenge the calcified convictions of these narrow-minded religionists, or those within their party who dare to display tendencies toward independence of thought, are dispatched quickly, decisively, and at times viciously. There is no quicker way to rile a religionist than to challenge his convictions.

For them it is a call to retaliation, not a call to reflection.

Nowhere, however, does God suggest His gracious revelation to us should result in termination of thought! Throughout His dealings with mankind, He has called us to reflection and meditation, which can only be truly beneficial when engaged in with open hearts and minds. When commissioning Joshua to lead His people across the Jordan and into the land of promise, the Lord God commanded him to take "this book of the law" and "meditate on it day and night" (Joshua 1:8). The Psalms speak repeatedly of the value of meditation, but perhaps nowhere as beautifully as Psalm 119. "Oh how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day" (v. 97).

Genuine reflection is an acknowledgment and manifestation of openness to change! We feast upon His Word in order to be transformed thereby. To devour the Scriptures for no other purpose than to "prove our point" or "enforce our practice" is to approach this feast already filled with our own fare, intent only upon a good "food fight" with other factionists. We have thus already determined within our minds and within our movement, to our complete satisfaction, the nature and extent of Truth. We are content. No other input is desired. Indeed, great offense is taken when "digressive disciples" dare to try. Our perceived task on earth is simply to prove ourselves right and all others wrong ... to the glory of God, of course! By not practicing Reflective Openness, we have succeeded only in deflecting Truth ... by which God is not glorified.

What would have become of Saul of Tarsus had he not practiced Reflective Openness during the seventy-two hours he was in Damascus following his encounter with the risen Savior? How many lives might have been adversely affected had Saul viewed Ananias as an apostate and his message as apostasy because he dared to challenge him to confront his beliefs in a new light?!

What might have been written about the saints in the city of Berea had they not "received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so"? (Acts 17:11) The text says they were more "noble-minded" than those in Thessalonica. Why? Because the latter were religiously bigoted, unwilling to listen to or reflect upon anything that went against their cherished perceptions. They were even willing to travel far and wide to inflict great harm upon those who were in "opposing religious camps." The Bereans were more noble-minded because they practiced Reflective Openness, rather than a dogmatic, self-righteous, closed-mindedness, which would in effect have said, "Go away, Paul. We've already got all the answers. We're right, everyone else is wrong. We're the only ones approved of God. The only ones saved."

The Bereans, on the other hand, did not believe themselves to be the sole possessors of all Truth. They were constantly open to a better understanding of what God would have them to know, to do, and to be ... even if it meant radical change! They were practitioners of Reflective Openness! They were noble of mind because they were eager of mind. When Luke states that they "received the Word with great eagerness," he uses the Greek word prothumia which means "readiness, willingness and eagerness of mind." It denotes a disposition or mindset that is free of prejudice and bias --- an open mind; a teachable mind! This Greek word "emphasizes a lack of prejudice".

The Bereans, simply stated, had a prothumian spirit.
[ End of Part 1 of 2 ]

For Part 2 and more articles:
Go to REFLECTIONS Regarding Responsible Reformation by Al Maxey
http://www.zianet.com/mazxey/