And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 NLT
We hear podcasts, listen to sermons on change, we go to conferences and doctors – all with a desire and hope to change. We want to lower our anxiety, raise our peace, better our relationships, and, well … we repent and determine to make the changes that will lead to the life we know intrinsically we were designed to live.
The problem is, we generally come home from the conference, finish the book, absorb the sermon, and come up with a list of decisions and start in. For a while, maybe even a month, things seem to be different. But before long our health, our relationships, our finances, our calendar, our environment is as disordered and chaotic as it originally was. What went wrong?
The problem is, as John Maxwell says, “Wherever you go, there you are.” Your issues are not about the people around you and want they think. The main issue is who YOU are and how YOU think. So instead of simply having goals and boundaries (all good, by the way), you must ground it all in your identity and how that identity is formed and exhibited by the way you think. Anxious, stress-filled people and those who are non-anxious and peaceful are all defined by the soundness or lack of health of their minds.
Who are you? Who do you want to be? You are a person created, loved, and valued by God Almighty. You have been saved and forgiven by Jesus Christ. You have a purpose in this world and the power to fulfill it as you love like He loves, live like He lives, and are constantly aware of His presence. You are a person who has the power to choose to live in the freedom for which Christ died. So, you FIX the problem, says Paul, by FIXING your thoughts consistently in the right direction. You focus on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. You consistently bring your mind back to who YOU are, your true identity, and you think about the things that bring that person into fruition.
You fix your thoughts on this: “I am a person who was created in the image of God. I am a person created for incredible passion and purpose, and I will live in the freedom of a sound mind. I will live fixed on truth instead of running with my emotions. My decisions will reflect the identity I have: a truth-filled, joyful, kind person who knows who I am.”
- Chances are, you know you were made for more than the life you are currently living. You fix it by fixing your mind on truth.