A New Way of Thinking

Yesterday was great! My daughter kept reminding me to learn the verses from Deuteronomy 10:12-13. The good news is that this morning I could still remember these verses. I hope to recite them daily so I can meditate on them later.

Now for this morning. Maybe you have struggled at times like I have with your temper. My worst struggles were some time ago when I would become so angry that I hurt myself. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true! My frustration level would get so high that once I snapped a golf club over my knee and then began hitting myself in the head with one end of it. I have broken things and thrown things, but who knows how many times I have slapped myself. I'm not proud of these things, but I share them because I believe other people also deal with anger, and the hardest person in the world to be angry with is yourself.

One young person said, "you know I'd really be wealthy if I had a dollar for everytime I've lost my temper." Sometimes when we have a bad habit we try to fix it by replacing it with something that's not quite as bad. Maybe instead of hitting someone when we're angry we hit ourself, or to be not quite as bad, we hit something inanimate.

The word for today comes from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians 4:17-24:

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

²⁰You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. ²¹Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The only way to really beat a bad habit is to replace it with something good! We can only fix the way we act by fixing the way we think. One great way to fix our stinking thinking it to replace our thought with God's thoughts. That's why we memorize verses from the Bible and later meditate on them. Through the years I have come to control my temper much better, just ask my wife. I really believe that replacing my thoughts with God's thoughts has made all the difference. Have a great day!