THOUGHT LIFE
There are certain problems, such as kleptomania, phobias, psychological disorders or mental illness, that if someone has, then he or she should seek professional help. But what I am giving here is practical help for everyday problems. If you think about things that are funny, you will laugh; or sad things, you will be sad; or something upsetting, you can become angry. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Unfortunately, there are those who cannot stop thinking about certain things, even though they wish they could. Imagine a winter scene with heavy snow where cars are driving on unplowed streets. The wheels of a car will get stuck in the ruts of the deep snow, and it is hard to turn the car out of these ruts. So is our mind, with repeated thoughts till it is hard to stop thinking about something. New ruts need to be made, so one will have a new pattern of thoughts to follow. There are many that have lost control of their thought life, but by the grace of God have been given back control (Romans 8:4–7).
I used to illustrate this to our teens in our youth group by taking a Styrofoam mannequin and cutting the top part of the head off and then putting inside the head bad things. I would write on strips of paper all the things that could possibly trouble a teenager, or anyone. I would then crumple up the paper strips with their problems, sins, worries, and frustrations, and put them inside the hollowed-out area of the mannequin’s head. I would then ask, “How do you think this young person feels about herself?” Then I would begin to replace the crumpled up paper with other pieces of paper that had the promises in God’s Word, pictures of good friends, right places, right films, right books, and activities, and then asked again the same question, “How do you think this person feels about herself?”
We are responsible for our thought life. We are not to think upon whatever comes into our mind. “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).
Replace wrong thoughts with good thoughts: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1–3). “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7; see OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD; see TEMPTATION).
There are certain problems, such as kleptomania, phobias, psychological disorders or mental illness, that if someone has, then he or she should seek professional help. But what I am giving here is practical help for everyday problems. If you think about things that are funny, you will laugh; or sad things, you will be sad; or something upsetting, you can become angry. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Unfortunately, there are those who cannot stop thinking about certain things, even though they wish they could. Imagine a winter scene with heavy snow where cars are driving on unplowed streets. The wheels of a car will get stuck in the ruts of the deep snow, and it is hard to turn the car out of these ruts. So is our mind, with repeated thoughts till it is hard to stop thinking about something. New ruts need to be made, so one will have a new pattern of thoughts to follow. There are many that have lost control of their thought life, but by the grace of God have been given back control (Romans 8:4–7).
I used to illustrate this to our teens in our youth group by taking a Styrofoam mannequin and cutting the top part of the head off and then putting inside the head bad things. I would write on strips of paper all the things that could possibly trouble a teenager, or anyone. I would then crumple up the paper strips with their problems, sins, worries, and frustrations, and put them inside the hollowed-out area of the mannequin’s head. I would then ask, “How do you think this young person feels about herself?” Then I would begin to replace the crumpled up paper with other pieces of paper that had the promises in God’s Word, pictures of good friends, right places, right films, right books, and activities, and then asked again the same question, “How do you think this person feels about herself?”
We are responsible for our thought life. We are not to think upon whatever comes into our mind. “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).
Replace wrong thoughts with good thoughts: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1–3). “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7; see OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD; see TEMPTATION).
