Jollyblogger has posted a concise sentence about self-absorption, Just a Random Thought. As I said in my comment there, it is quite heuristic. I agree with what he is getting at and only seek to elaborate on his insight here.

I would add only that it is how I think about me, what I want and what I need, that is determinative. When that kind of self-reflective thinking comes into my head, I’m once again standing at a crossroads: follow the Spirit or follow the flesh. (Since we make at least 17,000 decisions a day,* it’s a familiar intersection!)

If I’m thinking about all that Christ has done in my life, recognizing my wants as manifestations of the flesh, and learning to be content with God meeting my basic needs - if I think along those lines, I’m OK. It’s when I leave the Holy Spirit out of my thinking - i.e., I don’t allow Him to correct and re-direct my thoughts - that I get into a grey or blue mood.

At least for me, it’s the perspectival path I choose to take that makes all the difference. Will I walk after the Spirit or after the flesh? Will I have a temporal or eternal perspective?

It’s another crossroads every day, every hour, and sometimes many times an hour.
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*Not all decisions are conscious, thankfully!


2 Cor 1.13