I remember a speaker from my teen age years saying, "You are not what you think you are. But what you think, you are!" The first half of this quote reminds me that I never have a fully accurate perception of myself. And I am rarely (never?) as important as I think I am.
However it is the second half of the quote that ran through my mind this morning as I read Philippians. "What you think, you are." We cannot control all of the thoughts that flash across the screen of our active minds. However we can control what stays on the screen for more than a second or two. We choose to hit the pause button - or not; we choose the subject on which we will focus our thinking. And gradually, as we continue to make those thought choices, we shape our character, our outlook, our perceptions. We become what has dominated our thought life - what our mind has been "dwelling on". Spend a little time with a pessimist and then an optimist and you realize that their thought patterns are absolutely different.
We need to heed the wise advice "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise - dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8
I recall some long ago acquaintance who struggled with addictions talking about negative thoughts as "stinkin' thinkin'". He knew that the "stinkin' mess" of his life had been largely the result of his negative, self defeating, critical and impure thoughts. In contrast, may your mind continually revert to the "sweet smellin' thinkin'" described in Philippians; because "what you think, you are".
However it is the second half of the quote that ran through my mind this morning as I read Philippians. "What you think, you are." We cannot control all of the thoughts that flash across the screen of our active minds. However we can control what stays on the screen for more than a second or two. We choose to hit the pause button - or not; we choose the subject on which we will focus our thinking. And gradually, as we continue to make those thought choices, we shape our character, our outlook, our perceptions. We become what has dominated our thought life - what our mind has been "dwelling on". Spend a little time with a pessimist and then an optimist and you realize that their thought patterns are absolutely different.
We need to heed the wise advice "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise - dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8
I recall some long ago acquaintance who struggled with addictions talking about negative thoughts as "stinkin' thinkin'". He knew that the "stinkin' mess" of his life had been largely the result of his negative, self defeating, critical and impure thoughts. In contrast, may your mind continually revert to the "sweet smellin' thinkin'" described in Philippians; because "what you think, you are".
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