Be Careful Little Mind What You Think

Be Careful Little Mind What You Think 

Philippians 4:4 -6 ‘whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

Thinking: It is what our mind thinks about that directs the path that we take; it is also the actions that follow the thought that makes us the person we are. The scripture tells us that “for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” The person we are is formed by the thoughts we think and the actions that we take because of those thoughts. We are what we think, therefore if we want to change the way we are we must change the way we think. 

How we think we think: When we compare ourselves to ourselves we think we are thinking rightly, meaning that we think our thoughts are primarily about doing the right thing i.e. being an honest, kind caring person. We think we are doing just those things. However the reality may be that we think ourselves more righteous than we are. Intention and simply thinking about doing the right thing does not mean that we are actually doing the right thing. We must let our every thought be captured by God’s word then we must follow through with right action. 

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (KJV). 

The right action is not always the actions we think or choose; we are to put God’s will in action. 

"Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and then sustain it." (Notable Quotes)By William Bennis 

Think about it; Thinking or speaking about an action is different than acting upon a thought. When we have a thought it begins as a glow an ember then as we think about it more the ember grows in intensity. When we act upon the thought it sparks and ignites into a flame. Now this flame is either good for us or will harm us as it grows. When we feed the flame with wrong thoughts the flame will grow out of control and end up causing damage that may be irreparable. Changing the wrong thoughts to right thoughts will produce a controlled flame that will allow us to gain warmth and light from the flame. Thoughts may disguise themselves as something good for us and as we allow the thought to grow we may or may not realize the danger until the damage is done. It is important that we to take every thought captivity and rightly divide it with the word of God. 

Digging Deeper…..so how do the thoughts we have develop? A thought can come from a past activity that at the time seemed enjoyable; we linger in the remembrance of the enjoyment. Reminiscing about the old times with friends and family, these thoughts bring us comfort, feelings of nostalgia. Some memories may have been a short lived enjoyment turning drastically into a very disappointing or even hurtful memory. Thoughts are like dreams and use the grid of our mind that has been collecting images, actions, words, and feelings from the womb. Different sights, smells, locations, or sounds may trigger a thought that brings to mind something from our past. Certain thoughts bring to mind a longing or yearning for that action to be repeated. We all know we cannot go back and experience that same feeling the same way. We are often disappointed when we do try to relive a moment, or return to a place that we have such fond memories, and it is never quite the same feeling as what we remember having. We are to remember the past wonderful experiences in our lives and create new ones on our journey. We are to take the unpleasant memories and fully hand them over to Christ so that they may be replaced with the new memories that God’s plan for us will bring. The scripture tells us in Romans 12:2 that when we are in Christ we have been born again, thus we are to renew our mind, transform our thoughts from the old pattern to the new pattern that Christ has laid before us. Changing the thoughts that suddenly come to mind is not an easy task we have to tackle it one thought at a time. Transforming our thoughts to: 

Philippians 4:8 “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

Through prayer and perseverance our thought patterns will change. Begin to train yourself to think purposefully. 

Moral: right thought + right reason + right action = right 

Right thought + wrong reason + wrong action = wrong 

Wrong thought + right reason + wrong action = wrong 

Wrong thought +wrong reason + wrong action = wrong 

Something easy: When your mind begins to wander in a direction that is not edifying to you or another take the time to pray and ask the Lord to change your thought. Recite or look up scripture, sing a hymn, seek Godly advice. Replace the thought with another that is uplifting and encouraging. The more we do this the easier it will be to identify what thoughts must be changed. You will be surprise at some that have lingered in your mind a long time. 

Something hard: It may take more effort to change our thought patterns especially when things don’t work out the way we planned, however right where you are at this place, this time, this thought is right where the Lord has chosen for you at this time to be an impact for Him. So don’t give up perseverance takes time and effort. 

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas A. Edison