Luke 24:38 · World English Bible
Luke 24:38 Meaning He Said to Them
He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
What does Luke 24:38 mean?
The question is gentle because it already knows the answer: nothing has happened to justify the fear. A mind is troubled only by the thoughts it has invited, not by anything real, and the rising of those thoughts is the whole of its distress.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
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Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
The question is gentle because it already knows the answer: nothing has happened to justify the fear. A mind is troubled only by the thoughts it has invited, not by anything real, and the rising of those thoughts is the whole of its distress. Love does not scold the trouble but points to its source, so the mind can see that it manufactured the storm it now trembles in.
So trouble is not a response to danger but a choice of teacher, quietly made and quickly forgotten. When the mind is asked why it fears, it finds it has no cause it can name, only a habit of listening to the wrong voice. Seeing that the thoughts arose from within and not from without, it can let them settle and be still.
Hearts: the inner ground of the mind where thoughts are chosen, the place fear rises from and the place it can be laid to rest.
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Live Luke 24:38 today
- The next time your chest tightens, pause and ask what actually happened in the last five minutes. Often the honest answer is nothing, and a thought just walked in without knocking.
- When someone you love is spiraling, resist fixing it and ask one gentle question instead. Why does this feel so big right now is kinder than any reassurance.
- Before you reread the email or the message that is making your stomach turn, put the phone face down for sixty seconds. Most of the fear is in the rereading, not the message.
What am I frightened of right now that has not actually happened?
The same truth in other traditions
Stoicism · Epictetus
It is never the thing itself that disturbs us but the opinion we have added to it, and the opinion is ours to put down.
Buddhism · Dhammapada
All that we are arises with our thoughts. The world we suffer in is built by the mind, thought by thought.
Tao Te Ching
Muddy water clears when it is left alone. Stirring is what keeps it dark, and stillness is not something you do to it but something you stop doing.
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