Right Thinking, Right Living

What are you thinking about? What is the script your inner voice is playing in your mind? Is that inner voice edifying and building you up to step into the glorious life you are meant to live or is that voice belittling, filled with doubt and condemning you to a life of fear and failure? Living a glorious life starts with right thinking! I love this famous quote “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

The Bible too tells us that we need to think right. Paul exhorts us not to get sidetracked by every whim of thinking but to make every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

What we think in our minds – our thoughts are what drives our emotions, our behaviours and actions. James Allen said – “You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” It is because of this that God commands us to renew our minds with His word and think great thoughts! If we want a better future for ourselves in God, we need to pay attention to our minds and get our thinking right.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
No wonder Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.“

A great example of the glorious life you can lead with the right thinking is the woman with the issue of the blood. This woman had been bleeding continuously for 12 long years. She was probably living by herself and leading a very lonely, ostracized life as she was ceremonially unclean. She was unwell from bleeding all these years, exhausted dealing with the drudgery of washing linen and clothes for twelve years and on top of that financially depleted by trying different remedies and cures that did not work. Here was a woman whose identity was the issue she was dealing with for twelve long years. She was without hope, she could have given up and rehearsed in her mind that despite all that she had done, there was just no future or hope for her and stopped looking for answers.

When she heard of Jesus, this woman changed her thinking! She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” (Matthew 9:21). The moment her thinking changed that there was hope, she had the ability to devise a plan to secretly touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak and receive her healing! Right thinking led to right actions and this woman’s life was changed gloriously!

Instead of focussing on what we are struggling with in our mind, we need to fill our minds with God’s word and with thoughts that are in line with God’s thinking and character. God’s word hidden in our hearts and minds, becomes a plumb line against which we check every thought that enters our mind.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

What are you feeding your mind on? Feed your mind on His word, great books, listen to great music and personalise scripture. Think great thoughts about God, about yourself, about others, about life, about the past, about your future, about your challenges and you will not be sidetracked but will go on to live in God’s perfect will!