Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8 (NASB)
Those of
you who check in here regularly know I am a believer in how the changed heart
brings a changed life. The biblical understanding of heart is best considered
as your will, soul, beliefs, desires, mind, and your thoughts.
Philippians
4:8 instructs us to think or meditate on what is true. When something is true
it is real or authentic. It is something that has been proven. Do you spend
your time thinking about things that are true or real? Or, do you find yourself
meditating on thoughts such as:
- I'm not really
forgiven
- I must not be a
Christian
- God doesn't know
what's going on
- God doesn't see
what's happening to me
- God doesn't
understand how I feel
- God wouldn't do
that to me
- God doesn't care
about me
People who
struggle with anxiety, fear, worry, or depression often tell me they have
thoughts and feelings like those above.
Scripture
teaches us that God see's all things that happen on the earth.
The
LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. Psalm 33:13 (NLT)
He is
familiar with our suffering and our misery (Isaiah 53:3). God does not
abandon His children (Hebrews 13:5), He does care (1 Peter 5:7), and He does
understand (Hebrews 4:15)!
One
way to combat wrong thinking is to find other Scriptures that are the opposite
of whatever wrong or sinful thoughts and feelings you have. I would encourage
you to write them out and memorize them. You must renew your mind with truth
(Romans 12:2) and replace your inaccurate thoughts because they are what lead
to your feelings.
Choose
to work on what is real rather than to worry about what you don't know to be
true. The only things you can even remotely hope to control or change are
things that are real and true. Going back to the list above, if the truth is
that you have not accepted Christ by grace through faith then your fear and
anxiety is real, you are not forgiven and you are in peril. However, if you are
in Christ and feel you are not
forgiven because of some horrible sin (real or imagined) you are not thinking
rightly.
Reach
forward and press on rather than remaining a prisoner of the past. I want to discourage you from dwelling on the
past and rehashing things repeatedly. It is not helpful to wonder what you
should have done and how life would be different if you had. Don’t torture yourself with these kinds of
thoughts! Instead of being a slave to your feelings, believe the biblical truths
of about forgiveness and what God does with forgiven sin. By all means, learn
from your past and the consequences of your sin and mistakes, but don’t live
there!
If you
want to renew your mind, then memorize Scripture (not an option), meditate on
Scripture, and obey the Scriptures. Put in to practice what you learn and when
you do, you will be on your way to a healthy thought life that glorifies God
and brings you peace.