1746 Changing Categories

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

When you are dealing with situations, you have 2 categories in your mind: This is good, or this is bad. Everything you encounter is subconsciously placed in one of those two categories. Either this is good, I like it, this feels good, I’m happy about it … or …. this is bad, I don’t like it, I’m worried about it or stressed about it.

And for my sisters who tend to be a bit of a control freak, I bet anything you don’t fully know, see, understand, or have complete control of tends to promptly be put in the “this is bad” category as well.

We go through our whole lives sorting our experiences in this way.

As we’re coming to the end of this month of life, we typically compile the experience into a packaged deal and label it good or bad. Was this month a good month or a bad month?

For most of us using this natural sorting system, the month gets labeled as bad. Why? Because negative memories are stronger than positive memories. Bad days are remembered in bold with tremendous detail and emotion. We can replay a conversation that hurt us word for word, but the conversation that encouraged us is quickly forgotten. Sadly, when we pile up enough of these labeled bad months, we end up with a bad year. And with an accumulation of bad years, we’re left feeling like we have a bad life.

But goodness gracious, don’t we really have a good life? I mean really, isn’t it even far better than good? There’s so much more that it right, that is good, and that is working than that which is wrong, bad and not working. The problem is, the things that are not working for you are so darn magnified. Your entire body can be working perfectly and you never notice what doesn’t hurt. But if you have a tiny tooth that is hurting, it’s absolutely all you can feel. You could be surrounded by a hundred excellent drivers, but that one idiot on the road is the one you’re talking about.

So, it really has me thinking … our categories for life aren’t really working for us. If everything is either good or bad, and bad gets so much more weight than the good, we’re truly in danger of a depressing, overwhelming, sad and disappointing existence.

I love studies on how our thoughts work. I’m absolutely amazed by the complexity of all that is happening inside our brains that make us either feel happy or sad, excited or fearful. One study was done on mice tracking two distinct circuits of neurons involving positive and negative memory association. Scientist found that electrical signals among one group of neurons actually strengthened as the mice learned to associate a certain sound with sweet sips of sugary water. A different circuit responded when the mice were taught that another sound preceded a little electrical zap. Eventually, the mice were responding to the different sounds with either excitement or fear, all based on their previous experience. It was either good or it was bad. Two categories.

But here’s the really cool part that reaches beyond the mind of a mouse and affects our entire life experience: Neurotensin.

Neurotensin is a signaling molecule found in brain cells. Less neurotensin means more fear and stress based responses. More neurotnesin means more the opposite with more excitement, joy and happiness. Neturotensin is WHY the mice responded the way they did.

Why is this important? Because FAITH can change the way we process current events and store memories. Faith can actually change the unseen things happening within our brain and totally change our experience!

Faith leads us to a new way of categorizing the things that happen in our lives. We grow beyond just good and bad, to recognize when God is involved then there’s a supernatural power at work that supersedes everything we see.

Our God is not limited by good and bad, our God has the divine power to take bad and use it for good. Our God has the power to shine light in the darkness and radically change everything.

I heard a pastor say this week that God is not limited to our two categories of good and bad. I think that pastor is right. So, what do I think God’s categories might be? I think you could sum it up like this:

1. That’s in the process of being worked out for good.
2. That’s already been made good.

It’s either being done, or he done did it. If it’s not good, it’s just not good yet.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Faith allows us to trade our categories of good and bad, and reassess our whole lives through a broader lens of what God is doing. With this broader lens, our brains are literally affected.

Faith changes the molecules within our brain cells. Faith says this isn’t what I wanted right now, but with God working, it will be greater than I wanted for the future. Faith says I don’t like this right now, but with God working, one day I’ll be grateful for the details of his grace and mercy absolutely saturating this. Faith says this doesn’t have to look good right now for me to believe it will become good with God.

And that faith releases that neurotensin within our brain cells and changes the way we respond. We are no longer freaking out, we are filled with peace. We aren’t fearful of what terrible thing will happen next, we are hopeful the good things of the past will show up and be repeated again now. Neurotensin literally has us remembering God’s faithfulness and counting on it again.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What does the pattern of this world say? It says good and it says bad. Two categories. And bad always outweighs the good in our ability to remember. But, God wants to renew our minds. He wants to change our categories into his categories.

This is either in the process of being worked out for good, or it’s already been made good.

My family has some really dark, painful experiences we’re currently walking through. It’s the kind of stuff that makes a mama want to pull the covers up over her head and just not get out of bed. The kind of stuff that tears families apart. The kind of stuff that would promptly be put in the really, really, really bad category.

BUT FAITH ….

But faith shines the light of Jesus on that darkness, and with his light, I see completely different categories. I see the things God has already so faithfully made good. Things that have already been taken care of. Details that have already come together so perfectly. The right friends, help, and experience perfectly aligned as only God could do. And the rest I see so clearly is in the process of being worked out for good.

Now, it may not look good today, and faith says it doesn’t have to. But when it’s been placed in the mighty and capable hands of God, we can fully trust it will be. And when our minds are set on God’s way of categorizing things, our brains function in joy, in happiness, in peace.

Faith is our answer. Faith renews our minds and makes them different than the pattern of this world. Faith gets us out of the “good” and “bad” and brings us to a deeper understanding of how God sees everything.

Again, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ALL THINGS includes THIS THING and God will work it out for good! Notice how different you feel with that?

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