A New Year. It’s that time again when we tend to evaluate our lives. We may ask ourselves:
- Who are we?
- Who do we want to become?
- What do want to accomplish?
- What do we want to be known for?
- What is or isn’t working in our lives?
- What do we want to see different in our lives this year?
Sometimes we create goals and do a good job fulfilling them … at least for the first few months anyway. And, sometimes we begin the year discouraged and wonder why we should even bother.
Perhaps this year we could try a different approach. Instead of trying to come up with our top ten goals we want to accomplish, we can, instead, align our lives mentally, physically, socially and directionally with our Creator.
In the next few posts we will focus on each of these areas. Honestly, entire books have been written on each subject but we will very briefly focus on each one in hopes of being spurred on to grow in each of these four areas this next year – mentally, physically, socially and directionally.
Let’s discover what it means to be Mentally Alive.
Our thoughts and feelings tend to dictate what we believe about God, ourselves and others. Our minds move us in our decision-making and in what we deem to be important and of value. Aligning our minds with the mind of Christ leads us to live our lives patterned after our Savior. When our minds stray and we begin to believe contrary to His word, we will inevitably not be living our life to the fullest.
The world we live in is very spiritual. Scripture reminds us over and over again that there is a battle for the hearts, souls and minds of humanity and, as believers, we are to wage war against the evil that threatens to overcome ourselves and others. What we believe about God, ourselves and our present situation can steer us down one pathway or another. We are exhorted to align our thoughts with Christ.
In fact 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
By bringing our thoughts captive to Christ, aligning with His thoughts, His plans and His purposes for our lives, we will be empowered to live mentally alive. No more will debilitating thoughts limit the purposes He has for us. No longer will negative thoughts have the power to determine our identity and self-worth. No longer will we have to live with self-doubt, depression or hopelessness.
Choosing to align our minds to the truths of Jesus Christ will set our minds to be free and alive. He guides and directs us so that we will walk into the purposeful destiny He designed for us to live. The following poem illustrates this vividly
Watch your thoughts; they become your words.
Frank Outlaw
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
This isn’t just a power of positive thinking idea. It’s actively choosing to evaluate and align our thoughts with God’s truth. By consistently making this choice, it will affect how we think which affects what we say and then do, which will create habits which builds our character, which determines our destiny.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) confirms this by reminding us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Our battles in life tend to be won and lost in our minds. Our thoughts and beliefs dictate who we become. We see the importance Jesus places on believing especially through His salvation plan. He tells us that if we only believe in God and the sacrifice of His son, we will be saved. What we believe has the power to change our eternity.
Philippians 4:8 gives us a rubric to filter our thoughts and beliefs through. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Whenever thoughts enter our minds we must ask ourselves, “Are these thoughts true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or worthy of praise?” If not, it’s time to kick them out. We must not think like the world does but think the way our Creator does.
It might be helpful to print out this verse and place it somewhere as a reminder to align your thoughts to Truth.
Take some time and evaluate your mindset. What do you believe and what is it based upon? Is it fluid or is it on the solid, unchanging truth of the gospel? If we want to know how to live our best life in 2023 we will follow Romans 12:2. It exhorts us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
I believe 2023 can be our best year yet. The world needs us to be the people God created us to be.
May we continue to live…
Rooted in Him,
