Feed Your Head: A Thought for the New Year

One of the fun things about having children is that you get to share with them all the experiences that you enjoyed yourself, as a child. Scarlett has always enjoyed music. Rather indiscriminately, but nevertheless, she enjoys the phenomenon very much. We bought her a cd player for her room for her birthday just a few days ago and it's been a great chance to share with her some of my own favourite records. Album art is, of course, a big influence in what she wanted to try out, but she has ended up digging out some real classics that I was able to take great joy in rediscovering with her. She's particularly fond of Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, some Dolly Parton (Katie's input), and today, we enjoyed together Jefferson Airplane. The song in particular which she gravitated toward was the song White Rabbit. You can listen to it here. I'm particularly fond of this song because I saw Patti Smith perform it live many years ago and she really spun out the intro, crawling about on stage like a rabbit for a good 5 minutes or so before the song began proper. Great fun that was. Anyway, the end of the song really struck a chord with me as I listened again and I'd like to offer the advice of the Doormouse as a message for the new year.

The last half of the closing verse of the song simply says:

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead,
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head".

I think the message I would give to all Christians for 2022 is FEED YOUR HEAD!!

It is clear to me that the Western world is losing its grip on reality. Logic and proportion, it seems, have indeed fallen sloppy dead. The fact that the cult of transgenderism has driven full steam ahead, the plethora of pronouns invented, the idea posited that maths might be racist, the fact that abortion has been celebrated and many more weird and wacky ideas that have gained traction and public consideration demonstrate that the more godless we get, the more out of touch with basic reality we get. We deny God, and we end up denying the basic facts of reality. We have failed to read God's second book, and have lost the ability to read his first. We have rejected special revelation and have begun to reject general revelation.

Christian, in 2022, feed your head, but not because the dormouse said it, but because the apostle Paul said it (pretty much). From Romans 12:

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".

There is always a danger that even as Christians we will succumb to the influences of the world. We can conform to it very easily and can look very worldly very quickly. The only solution is to be transformed by the renewal of our minds! We need to feed our heads. With scripture. You'll never do it perfectly. We're all prone to a worldly influence and will be in battle with the flesh until we're called home. But if we are known as Bible people, known to have our heads in the book (and many other good ones, which can certainly help, too), known as those concerned for the word, we shouldn't go too far wrong. To have our minds renewed means we have new instincts. It means we are wise and discerning as Paul says, able to figure out what might be ungodly. To have our minds renewed does not mean we memorise a systematic theology of doctrines, it means we have a sense of what is right and wrong, of what is good and acceptable and perfect. It means we are stopped in our tracks when we encounter an idea that doesn't sit right with scripture. It means we are thoughtful and considerate and weigh up the cultural motions we encounter. It means we constantly ask, what does the Bible say? Would the Bible push me in that direction? Does this cause me to love Jesus more and trust him better? It means we question the motives of the world.

But we have to know our Bibles. To read them thoroughly and to listen attentively in our churches. To share ideas with brothers and sisters and constantly influence yourself toward a better understanding of the Bible. When our minds are renewed and we believe correctly, we will then find joy welling up inside of our hearts as the sign that we love and trust our great God who made and ordered the world a certain way. The way that reveals who he is. Our world is cursed. It no longer bears his image accuratly. We can be deceived. But to know our Bibles will keep us from this deceit. Feed your head. Renew your mind.