Standing on Mashed Potatoes

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26 ESV)


You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3 ESV)



The word "faith" is a confusing word these days. It is used over and over again by our media. "She is a person of faith." "You have your faith, I have mine." Faith is talked about as if it is something physical, tangible and objective in and of itself.

Let me give you a synonym for the word faith that will be helpful. Trust. Faith means the same thing as trust. Lets substitute the word trust for the word faith in the above statements. "She is a person of trust." "You have your trust, I have mine." Does not a question come to your mind as you read those sentences? Like maybe, trust in WHAT? Or trust in WHO?

I heard a statement a few years ago that stuck with me. Your faith is only as good as the object it is resting upon. You see, if faith is trust, and trust is aimed at an objective reality, it is important to determine what, or who my trust is in. I can have all sorts of trust in Santa Clause, but if the object is not trustworthy, or real, neither is my faith.

Is my mind objective? The mashed potatoes between my eyeballs maybe physical and objective (called my brain), but my mind is not. My mind is spiritual. So what does the above scripture mean, whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool? How do I trust in something spiritual and not physical?

Your mind is indeed spiritual. The thoughts you have also are spiritual. But to determine what you actually believe, we need to have some communication. Either you can speak to me with words that talk about something you trust in that is objective, or you can write these words down on something I can read. Words have meaning. Your specific words talk about specific things.

If I sit down and think about all the things I trust are true. I pull them from the file cabinet of my mind and get them out on paper so I can see clearly what it is that I believe is true. How do I know that the things I think are true, are actually true? Well, if I just say, "they are true, because I believe they are true," I am a fool. Where do my thoughts rest? What is the solid ground that my beliefs are built upon?

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. God has done exactly what I just suggested you do. He has taken his thoughts and put them on paper that is objective and real. The ink blotches on the paper are not the things to rest upon, but the reality those words point to. I am a fool, when I am trusting in my own mind as the source of truth. I have perfect peace when my mind is resting upon every word breathed out by God as the sole source of truth. The Scriptures are the mind of Christ.