THINKING is a process of the mind whereby facts are given a rationale for their very existence. Mere facts standing alone have meaning but become useful when mixed in a bowl with other facts and stirred with the cream of thought and life application.
Who really cares what you ate in restaurants the past forty years? What value is there with all the amazing facts brought forth in thirty minutes of JEOPARDY if somehow they aren't brought together in a rationale or story useful in every day life? And, of what use are forty years of points of doctrine in a pastor's sermons if they aren't mixed with understanding, obedience and practical life application. Without the 'mixing' good facts become mere details or formalisms and are subject to proudful ostentatiousness. It's called academical pedanticalness. And those last two words serve as an example of what I'm talking about.
Joshua 1:8 gives the way of turning mere Bible knowledge and recitation of facts into a God-pleasing rationale for living. And really is this not God's intent for giving us the Bible? The verse declares: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."
While making rounds, a doctor points out an Xray to a group of interns. "As you can see," she says, "the patient limps because his left fibula and tibia are radically arched. Michael, what would you do in a case like this?" "Well," ponders the intern, "I suppose I'd limp too."
Michael failed to ponder and/or think long enough. And, to go back to the first case, who cares about your forty years of restaurant meals if they have no observable and current significance, unless you're terribly overweight?
dick christen
