"The man who begins to think without the proper first principles goes mad; he begins to think at the wrong end."
~ G. K. Chesterton
At the wrong end, he begins to think at the point of creation, rather then Creator. A world gone mad at the wrong end of thinking and mad men rip through dormitories and demand a denial and kill young life in utter madness. And world powers make deals of madness and marriages are muddled and money is a demigod and children grow motherless and a world runs wild with madness.
Thinking at the wrong end. An entire structure, a system of thought beginning at creation rather then Creator and madness ensues.
We watch world leaders and shake our heads and yet, our own system of thought is often so deeply embedded at the wrong end that we too reap madness in our own small worlds. We are each, individually, world leaders, world leaders of a world of one but leaders all the same. We determine at which place our thinking will originate from. The outcome we cannot decide; but the originality, the origin of our thought, we determine. There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and yet, we do recognize that outcome from the wrong end wroughts madness and tradition is full of mad men mulling over life from the wrong end.
Creation is not the "proper first principles" ~ if left to self creation cannot even rightly exist so to begin the life of thought apart from Creator is absolute madness. And certainly lifeless.
Proverbs 1:7 ~ "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge . . . "
Why does our world appear particularly mad today? From a theological perspective some would say we are likely nearing the end of the world's wily ways and its days are numbered. Likely truth. Time will tell. From a practical perspective I have to wonder if our world's wrong way of thinking, thinking from the wrong end, has not invaded the church and therefore crippled all of humanity.
An entire mass of men and women who should know the right end, who need to know the right end for the sake of mankind and for the sake of the man seated next to him; these have lost their way and wander and wallow their thinking ways through the same mess of the lost, of the unbelieving.
What do I mean? I mean "believers" who turn to media for information, rather then the Word. "Believers" who squander resources on self-help titles rather then surrendering brokenness to Christ. Those who waste hours on Facebook rather the pleading with the heavens to restore sanity and to sanctify souls. The church has fallen deeply in love with programs and projects and counting bodies in the pew rather then recognizing on true spirit being brought to life through the working of the Holy Spirit. "Believers" who believe far more in bank accounts then they do in a Provisional Heavenly Father. The church what would rather network then intercede. And a church who truly believes if creation can just create the right mood, or experience, then lives will change. We have started at the wrong end, we have started at creation rather then Creator. Through years of socialism, materialism and egoism we have lost our first origin of thought. Creator. Through an entirely purposed and steady barrage, through a cacophony of lying tongues the church has reversed its thinking and landed at the wrong end. Creation.
It has been purposed, for our Enemy knows at the wrong end, creation has NO power and certainly madness will ensue. At the wrong end we have NO power over sickness, addiction, hatred, greed; no sin or malady can be defeated by creation. Only Creator can defeat this madness of men. So, subtle serpent lies and twists and perverts bride to the wrong end of thought and cripples the church and wages a nasty war against humanity. The wrong end wroughts madness.
What do we do?
We strip it ALL away and we rebuild our foundation on the Rock. We wipe ourselves clean, we turn off ALL the voices, save Christ and we build the way He intended us too, at the True End, the Creator. We turn off the TV, close the websites and set aside all other authors other then the Author. We shut down Facebook and just looking into His face and we build, build truth into our lives and our families. And brick by brick, truth by truth we steel ourselves against madness and we create refuges, fortresses against the madness where the hurting, dying world can find answers.
There is one Answer to ALL of our struggles and when we start at the right end we find sanity for our souls and rest for our spent spirits.
In the beginning was the Word . . .
He always knew what we needed to hear, we just need to listen, listen to the Beginning, to the Word.
