MAKE SURE THAT YOUR THOUGHT-LIFE BELONGS TO GOD

With your mind you think, reason, contemplate, learn, make deductions, study, plan, imagine, and remember. All this activity can be summarized as your thought-life. If you are going to belong to God - totally and fully - then your mind has to surrender to Him.

How to have a God-owned thought-life:

Search your soul. Take a hard look at what occupies your mind the most. Allow your private thought-life to be carefully scrutinized by God's holy, pure Spirit. If He reveals to you anything offensive to Him, contrary to His will, and in conflict with the mind of Christ, sweep it away.

View sin seriously. Understand that selfishness, hostility, criticism, jealousy, hatred, ill-will, discontent, complaining, faultfinding, cruelty, and indifference (to name only a few) are diametrically opposite to the mind of Christ. Your sins grieve God deeply. To continue to express and hold such inner attitudes creates enormous strain and tension between you and God.

Aim for real repentance. Having been shown what is amiss in your inner attitude and habitual thought patterns, you must come to hate them as God does. See them as repulsive as He does. You must want to turn away from them - quit them. For this to take place you must turn to the Lord in genuine earnestness, with intense longing to be remade, revitalized, and redirected. Ask Him to alter your inner attitude.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. If your desire to be remade is honest and sincere, God will begin to change you. The alterations may be sudden, dramatic, and drastic, or they may be a gradual growth in godliness.

Die to self. This means you must die to your sensual, selfish, self-centered interests and attitudes. Daily, even hourly, say no to wrong thoughts, evil thinking, rotten attitudes; and say yes to the outlook and aspirations of God's Spirit who resides within you.

Be set free from wrong thinking. The moment you die to the world, to sin, and to selfish interests, you are set free (resurrected) into a new environment and dimension of living, thinking, and behaving. Your focus can now be on God the Father, shifted from the vanity of man.

Switch tracks in your thinking. God calls you to walk above the world. Only if you have right thinking, godly attitudes, and Christ-like compulsion can you achieve His purposes on the planet. Your thinking must be switched from selfish pursuits to the Savior's compassion and concern for the lost.

Experience the power of Christ's presence. You become like those with whom you associate. If you walk only with worldlings, you will become like the world. Give God some of your time and attention each day. Commune with Christ. Contemplate His character. Concentrate on His teaching. Meditate over His marvelous life. Share sweet moments speaking to Him. Cultivate His company. Relish His presence. The impact of His life will alter your whole outlook on life. Gradually, gently, graciously, you will come to have the mind of Christ, and will walk with Him in noble thought.

W. Phillip Keller (1920-1997) grew up in Africa as the son of missionary parents. He traveled extensively throughout the world as a nature photographer and agronomist. His more than 35 Christian books include A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 with more than 2 million copies in print; God is My Delight; Strength of Soul; and Outdoor Moments with God.

From Walking With God by W. Phillip Keller, copyright (c) 1980. Published in 1998 by Kregel Publications. Used by permission of Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., 1-800-733-2607.

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