What's Your MENTAL DIET?

What do you spend your time thinking on, meditating on, listening to, talking about…what kinds of things feed your mind??? Our culture can be so smart and deliberate about physical nutrition and health. Watching fat, counting calories, monitoring blood pressure, limiting salt, watching what is eaten, intentional about exercise. However, most people are completely careless about what enters their mind, giving little thought to what they hear, see, watch or listen to.
1 Tim 4:8
8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. -NIV

Paul’s words to young Timothy were a powerful reminder that while physical health is important we cannot be mindless about the spiritual, intellectual and emotional content of the ideas we consume!

Wrong Thinking > negative emotions > unwise behavior > devastating consequences

Right Thinking > positive emotions > wise behavior > fruitful consequences

If you want to cultivate the kind of thinking that will unleash God’s greatest potential in your life you will need to learn to pay attention to your Mental Diet! Where Do Great Thoughts Come From?

START WITH SCRIPTURE –
-Not just reading the Word but letting it GET INTO YOU. Spend time thinking on scripture, not just when you are reading but throughout the day. Worry (rehearsing negative thoughts over and over) is a form of meditation. Use that same energy to meditate on Scripture instead!

DWELL ON GREAT TRUTHS-
-Great thoughts challenge us, ignite us, and stir us. Lift us above the mundane, simple, materialistic and mindlessness. I read this quote this morning
“Life is not measured by longevity but quality” – Martin Luther King
-Your mind is going to be filled with something. Why not great thoughts instead of gossip, sitcoms, CNN, youtube or facebook!

TAKE TIME TO NOTICE BEAUTY-
-I’ve noticed something since moving back to the city…the stars don’t shine as bright.
Ps 19:1
19 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. NIV
-Get outside the borders on concrete and street lights: strip malls and flat screen TVs
-Spend some time outdoors, God will speak to you through His creation

MEDITATE ON SPIRITUAL TRUTHS-
-What spiritual insights or truths has God revealed to you by His Spirit? The more you dwell on God’s promises for you the more they become apart of you.
-Spiritual Truths have incredible transforming power in the lives of those who reject the world’s view or opinion and instead meditate on what God has said to them

Remember, thinking great thoughts is a matter of practice and developing healthy habits. INTENTIONALLY decide seek God’s highest and best purposes for your life.

Blessings,
Darren