CONTROLLING YOUR THOUGHTS

“Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight  ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left.” –  Proverbs 4:23-27 (MSG).

Most people do not realize just how much thinking we do. We think and process information all day long and sometimes all night long. Even in our sleep, our brains process or sort out our thoughts from that day. We spend a lot of that thinking on spiritual matters, and much of that thinking centers around the choices we make.

It is easy to conclude that you are a victim of your thoughts. But we need to rethink that. You cannot control the events and circumstances of life or what other people think and choose, but you do have the power to decide what you believe and your reactions to the events and circumstances of life. The Bible tells us we have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), which means we can think and choose well. And we have the Holy Spirit to help us make our choices.

Every day, we have a choice—to believe or not believe the devil’s lies. He tries everything he can to lead you into bad choices. But some choices get muddled up with emotions, options, and plain indecisiveness. When faced with a choice, we need to ask ourselves whether what we choose to do will glorify God. The Bible should be the plumb line by which our lives are measured.

The Bible tells us that if we want to be happy, there are some things we should choose not to do, and there are other things we should choose to do instead. Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night” Despite our best efforts to do that, we still screw up. We make choices we regret.  We make choices we think there is no coming back from. We wonder how we can recover from a choice we made yesterday or decades ago.

Fortunately, we have a wonderful promise from God. In Romans 8:28, the apostle Paul writes, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” This verse reminds us that as terrible as some things might be because of our poor choices, God is able to give them purpose and meaning. He can make them good and work them into His good purposes for our lives.

Pastor John Maxwell said, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” Crack the Bible open and you will find account after account of individuals who made hard choices while following God and as a result, enjoyed His rich blessings.” Every choice we make moves us closer to God or tears us further away from Him and His purpose for our lives. We have a choice. We make decisions every day. We can glorify God by making the right choices.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does glorifying God fit into our choices?
2. What can we do this week to make better choices?