Part 2: Thinking
Sunday, January 11
Teaching Series: Making Wise Choices
Every person needs to learn how to make wise choices. In order to do that we need to look at our decision making process. Every decision we make is going to be based on the knowledge that we’ve obtained. So where are you getting your information? Where is your wisdom coming from? Foolish decisions will cost you. Casual living leads to casualties. Every decision has to be well informed.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! (Proverbs 3:5-7)
It has been your choices that got you where you are today. But you can change the direction of your life by changing the source of your knowledge. Don’t rely on your own knowledge, or the knowledge of other people. Trust the wisdom of God. God has an expected end for your life, but it starts with his thoughts, his plan, his word (Jeremiah 29:11).
People have limited knowledge. Our wisdom is restricted. On the other hand, God is all-knowing. God knows all things past, present and future and he knows them all at the same time. There is nothing he does not know. God does not only know the actual outcome of every choice; he also knows the potential outcome of every option. So trust God. He truly knows what’s best. He will keep you on track.
Words Determine Your Thinking
The first step in making wise choices is to evaluate words. The second steps is to evaluate our thinking.
Your thinking frames everything that happens in your life. There is only one determining factor of your thoughts – words. Your thinking will be based on the words that you are hearing. Words – either negative or positive – will determine how you will think. You got to examine yourself. Ask yourself: “What do I think? How did I get this way of thinking? Who’s framing my thinking?”
Our thinking is the product of our environment. The way you think today is based on the words that were spoken to you. What did your parents say? What did your teachers say? How did your siblings influence you? How about your friends? What music did you listen to? Your surroundings and the people around you frame your thinking by the words that you hear. Your thinking is going to be based on the words that you allow into your life.
We got to understand how important words are. Words are seeds that are planted in your heart and produce a harvest. Remember Genesis 12 when God said to Abraham.
“‘Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you …’ So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do” (Genesis 12:1-4).
Have you ever thought, “Why in the world would God come to a man and tell him to get away from his relatives?” Abraham had to get away from his relatives that were framing his thinking. He needed to relearn so that he can think the way God wants him to think.
You are going to have to choose what words you are going to hang around. If you want to think according to God’s Word, then you will have to cut off all other sources just like Abraham did. You are going to have to decide what words you will allow to get into your heart.
“Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Your thinking is at the center of everything you do. It is at the center of everything that goes on in your life. Whatever is flowing out of your heart is a result of the words that were planted in your heart. You got to pay attention to what you are hanging around, to what you are hearing. You are going to have to make a quality decision concerning the words that you will allow to be part of your life. Choose what words you are going to hang around.
Change the Way You Think
“We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Sinful actions show up as a result of bad thinking. Satan just shows up with a word, because he knows that those words can produce thinking. Then he just sits back and laughs at you and watches you do the rest. You cannot lay hands on bad thinking and cast it out. The Bible says that you are going to have to change the way you think. In order to change your actions, you have got to change the way you think.
“Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
We have got to change our thinking. We have got to hear the right words so that we can have the right way of thinking. Ask yourself, “How am I thinking about this? What are people telling me?” Then back away from all that and go see what God’s Word has to say. If you can trace everything you are doing back to the Word of God then you are going to be okay. But if you go backwards and don’t find God’s Word then you will end up in a struggle all of your life. You have to have the Word of God.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). If Satan can affect your thinking by planting some words into your life, then he can move you away from God’s will for your life. Romans 12 said, “test and approve what is the will of God.” If you don’t know God’s Word, then how will you be able to test and approve that you’re living in God’s will. If you don’t know what God’s Word says, then your thinking won’t line up with God’s Word.
True Assessment: God or Satan
Let’s take a look at the life of Job. Normally, we look at the suffering of Job. But what were people’s different thoughts about Job? What were God’s thoughts about Job?
“There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8).
God’s assessment of Job was that he lived according to God’s standards and did not deviate from them.
Satan has dominion over much of the world, but God pointed out that Satan could not dominate Job. Satan responded by attacking Job’s motives:
“Is it for nothing that Job fears God? Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land. But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11).
Because Satan could not deny God’s assessment of Job, he questioned Job’s motives. Satan suggested that Job was serving God not out of love but only because of what he got from God in return. If Job’s rewards were removed, then he would curse God.
God allowed Satan to strike Job, to try to provoke him to curse God. Who was right: God or Satan? God, of course. Job refused to blame God for wrongdoing. Recognizing God’s sovereign rights, Job praised the Lord. Satan was utterly wrong in predicting that Job would curse God.
Life will be hard. People will do stupid things, including us. But its God’s perfect will to work things together for good. What was meant to harm you or kill you, God can miraculously change it for good. We need thinking that will line up with the God’s Word, so that we will live a life that lines up with God’s Word. Who’s shaping your thinking?
Words will determine your thinking. Your thinking will be framed by the words that you hear. So who’s framing your thinking? Is God’s Word responsible for framing your thinking? God’s Word will produce thinking that lines up with the Word of God. Or are words coming from somewhere else responsible for framing what you think? The Bible says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). You are what you think. If your thinking does not line up with the Word of God then your life will not line up with the Word of God. Your thinking will frame the rest of your life.
Making Wise Choices series