By Michael L. Alumbaugh © 2023
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” ~ Proverbs 4:23
At one time or another, we’ve all sought the acceptance of others such as classmates, coworkers, relatives, family and friends. Thus, we’ve all received responses of rejection generating inner feelings of inadequacies, of not measuring up to the expectations of others. If there’s anyone who has worn that chain around their neck too long it is me.
In both grade school and high school, I’d received rude comments, been bullied, called names and generally felt rejected. At one point, I felt so dejected as a youngster I asked my mom why they’d adopted me. They hadn’t! I was theirs.
It’s been said that “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” Those reactions from others planted seeds in my mind that bore bad fruit. In the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much, Doris Day sings a song, “What Will Be, Will Be” (Que’ Sera, Sera). That song struck a chord with me internally, but not always a positive one. My version went something like this:
When I was just a little boy,
I asked my Daddy, “What will I be?
Will I be handsome? Will I be rich?”
Here’s what he said to me.
“Kid, you’re dumb, you’re DUMB!
Whatever could be, you’d be.
Your future’s not hard to see.
Kid, you’re dumb, you’re dumb.
That’s the way you’ll be.”
Now my Dad never actually said that, or even implied those words. Those thoughts came from me, and not the devil, like so many would promote. No, I was my own worst enemy. And so are you!
We give Satan way too much credit and too often use him as the excuse to get ourselves off the hook. He is neither omniscient nor omnipresent. He is NOT all knowing. Jeremiah 17:9 & 10 says this: “The heart [of man] is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” The key phrase is “above all things” which includes Satan!
Our thoughts, usually created by what we visually and mentally feed on, what we experience and continually ruminate on, form us into the people we are. When we feed our minds on negative, self-deprecating thoughts, we eventually personify them in our words and actions. They become who we think we are, and others only confirm it.
Zig Ziglar said, “You are who you are and what you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change who you are and what you are by changing what goes into your mind.” That’s the good news. We don’t have to continue to be stuck in that groove. God the Father, through Christ Jesus, has made a way of escape. It’s called “transformation.”
Those who have come to faith in Christ are being transformed into a new creation. Old things are gone and the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “. . . that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Therefore, why stay stuck in that rut? Call out to Jesus for redemption! Confess your sins to Him and make Him Lord of your life. Do a 180°turn and move away from the old allowing the Holy Spirit in you to make all things new. It takes effort and willingness on our part, but God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We just need to engage them.
In Philippians 3:13b – 14, Paul says it this way, “. . . this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
So, what’s on your mind? What’s holding you back from freedom in Christ? What are you allowing into your mind? Stop thinking according to the world and start planting life giving Words into your mind from the Word of God, the Bible.
There are five steps to renewing your mind.. Begin with hearing the Word of God preached and taught. More importantly, get alone with the Lord by reading the Bible on a consistent daily routine. Next, study what you are reading. (Two good tools I’ve found for studying is the Bible Hub and Enduring Word links.) The next two steps are critical to strengthening your mind and walk in Christ and they are memorizing God’s Word, and, then, meditating on it. Think it through and apply it to your daily life. In this way, you start planting the things a new creature in Christ needs to nourish and strengthen itself.
Let God and His Word increase your growth, renew your spirit and manifest that god-like character you were designed to be.
Dig a Little Deeper: Psalm 119:9-11; Romans 8:6-8, 12:2; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6: Philippians 4:8; Colossians 1:9-11, 3:1-4
Published in the October 2023 issue of Black River Times
