Too Many Minds

One of my favorite movies is The Last Samurai. In this movie Tom Cruise plays an American soldier who finds himself in Japan. There is a great battle between those who are trying to initiate the ways of the western world, and those who still hold to the traditional way of life. As you would expect Tom Cruise's character ends up with the Samurai instead of the army he was sent to be a part of. At one point in the movie, Cruise is training and struggling. The teach tells him he has too many minds. His thinking about too many things.

In our lives the possibility of thinking about too many things is high, and a daily happening. Another place where we have too many minds is in our character. It is not uncommon for us to act differently depending upon the people we are with. We take on several minds and try to match minds with those whom we are around. This is problematic in major ways. We should act, talk and think the same no matter who we are around, this is called integrity. We need to be of one mind and that is the mind of Christ Jesus himself.

When do you struggle with integrity?
My struggle always shows up when I am trying to impress the people I am around. I am not sure why I do this, but I do. There is something within me that drives me to impress the people around me with things that the world around us is interested in. It is important for me to remember that if I am working to impress people I will always lose. There is always going to be someone who can boast of greater success than I, there will always be someone better than I. No my measure should not be other people, but be God. At the end of my life it is God who will be before me not all these other people I try to impress.

Having integrity means living a consistent life. Consistent in always focusing on God. Consistent in being the same person no matter who you are with or what you are doing. Integrity is one of the truest measures of faith. When we trust God to be God, we can always be the person we are created to be.