I cannot imagine the bravery of “a few good men” like Alan Shepard and the others who pioneered spaceflight for America. So much was unknown! So many things could go wrong! He was going boldly, where no man had gone before.
A reporter asked Shepard what he was thinking when he was strapped into his capsule waiting to launch into space as America’s first astronaut. His answer is famous: “The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.”
What you think about is important. What do you think about during worship? Are you thinking about the perfume on the lady in front of you or the comb-over on the guy next to you? It’s sometimes easier to think about the wrong things when we worship. It’s easy for us to focus on the guy leading the prayer and forget the one to whom he is praying. It’s easy for us to zone out and find ourselves daydreaming about lunch at the very time that we’re supposed to be doing something in remembrance of Jesus!
One of the great challenges of scripture is the idea in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I like the image and ideal Paul gives us. Let’s be in control of our thinking—both in our assembled times of worship and when we live our lives. Let’s not be people who drift through life accidentally, but people who pursue the glory of God in all we do.