What Are You Thinking?

How healthy is your thinking?

After coming to know Jesus as our Savior, we can still miss many of the wonderful things God has for us because of a messed up mind. Our lives can be severely limited by sinful, faulty, misguided, dysfunctional and debilitating thinking.

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your decisions, and the quality of your decisions is determined by the quality of your thinking.

The Bible reminds us of this principle:

“Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” — Proverbs 4:23 (NCV)

There are many examples in the Bible of people who either helped or hurt themselves by their thoughts:

  • The large group of Israelites that wandered in the wilderness for 4 decades, and never made it into the Promised Land. Their doubt-filled, negative thinking cost them 40 years of their lives. It kept them from their God-planned destiny.
  • David’s moral failure with Bathsheba. David’s lustful thinking led him to a horrible lapse in judgment. Although his sin was forgiven by God, the pain and consequences of his failures lingered in his family.
  • Absalom’s bitterness toward his father David. Absalom refused to forgive his father for some of his mistakes. He allowed resentment to fill his heart and mind. Ultimately Absalom’s bitter thinking destroyed him. His life ended prematurely, all because of what he gave place to in his head.
  • Peter’s fearful thinking when Jesus was arrested and prepared for crucifixion. Peter let fearful thinking take over his mind. It caused him to deny Jesus when Jesus needed him most.
  • Judas’ covetous thinking. Judas allowed covetous thinking to cause him to betray Jesus.
  • Paul’s healthy thinking when incarcerated for preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ. Paul’s healthy, joyous thinking while in prison for preaching the Gospel allowed him to write many of the great books of the N.T.
  • John’s healthy thinking when exiled to the island of Patmos for his faith in Jesus Christ. John’s worshipful thinking on the island of Patmos set the stage for a great revelation of Jesus and the activities happening in heaven.

A messed up mind makes a messed up life! A well-managed mind leads to a well-managed life! An undisciplined mind leads to a diminished, dissipated life! A disciplined mind leads to a positive, productive and fruitful life!

What are you thinking?

Success or failure, victory or defeat — first happens in the head! Change your life by changing your thinking!

Dale O'Shields

For more information, visit the Church of the Redeemer's website.
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