A SINGLE THOUGHT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

​In his book titled, “A Complaint Free World,” Will Bowen shares the story about Mike Carmichael, who worked as a painting contractor. One day he came up with the unique idea of drilling a hole through a regulation baseball, inserting a thick metal hook, and hanging the ball in his workshop. He invited family, friends, and passersby to apply a coat of paint to the ball. Each time a layer of paint was put on, he recorded how many coats covered it. After 40 years, Mike was fascinated by how a single coat of paint, which measures only five one-hundredths of an inch in thickness, would eventually cause that ball to grow into something large. Eventually, he hung a sign in front of his workshop boasting the “World’s Largest Ball of Paint.” By the time 22,799 coats of paint were applied, the baseball, which normally weighs 5.25 ounces, tipped the scales at an astounding 3,500 pounds. Additionally, a regulation MLB baseball is between two and seven-eighths and three inches in diameter. After 22,799 coats of paint, each not much thicker than a human hair, the ball measured just over 52 inches in diameter.

Little things add up. As I think about that story, I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, where he wrote: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” One thought at a time, we are either thinking more or less like God.

Are your thoughts taken captive? Every day, there are a thousand voices calling to us—culture, friends, media, even our own doubts. If we’re not careful, we’ll get used to those voices and ignore the voice of Jesus. But when we intentionally look to the Spirit—through prayer, Scripture, and quiet attentiveness—we begin to recognize God’s voice above all the other noise, and we start to think more and more like him…one thought at a time.
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Tyler

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