Holy Spirit Radio

Awhile ago my pastor told the church that our minds are like radios. Generally speaking, they’re picking up signals. That doesn’t mean we’re all thinking, but it does mean we’re all listening.

As I thought about this concept, I remembered reading a book by Anne Lamott, where she talks about the radio station in her own head. She calls it KFKD, or K-F***ed, which is an apt name for what it plays: a steady stream of “self aggrandizement” mixed with “the rap songs of self-loathing” which declare “that one is in every way a fraud, incapable of selfless love” (Bird by Bird 116). Like KFKD’s name suggests, when we listen constantly to this trash in our minds, our well-being is intimately violated.

We will never find the peace of Christ’s love if we only listen to such thoughts. Donald Miller admitted that he once had “very little concept of love, altruism, sacrifice,” because he only listened to the radio in his mind: the one, “that picks up only one station, the one that plays me: K-DON, all Don, all the time” (Blue Like Jazz 181).

Additionally, it’s important to realize that most of our sins start in the mind before they turn into actions. James 1:14 warns that every person is “dragged away and enticed” by his or her “own evil desire”. Matthew 12:34 states: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Garbage in, garbage out. This is why we are told to “take every thought captive” for Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to “guard [our] hearts” (Proverbs 4:23).

We need to ask God to give us Holy Spirit Radio. We need “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, [to] present [our] requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

If we want to live better, we have to listen to better.

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