Brainwashed or Brain-Cleansed?

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. (Romans 8:5-7)

There are philosophies out there that propose 'positive thinking' is all we need to overcome even the worst of things going on around or within us. The truth of the matter is that humans can 'think positively' all they want, but as long as the mind hasn't been surrendered to Christ, negative thoughts will continue to emerge, as will negative actions. It is more than a 'mind game' that we play - it is a difference in who is in control of our minds!

Let the Spirit of God control your mind and you will soon begin to understand the power of God's presence in your life. The mind is a battleground of sorts and the one who 'commands' the battle matters. In and of ourselves, we cannot win the warfare by positive thoughts. We need an exchange of thoughts - an exchange of control and leadership. The Spirit of God isn't about to let any enemy of our soul win the battle - he will overcome ALL that opposes the holiness of God within us.

There will come a time when each of us is at our breaking point. We won't want to move forward for fear we will do or say something that will create even more negative chaos in our lives. We won't break free of those negative thoughts until we allow the one who can bring absolute peace and assurance into our lives take control. That means we surrender to Christ, allowing his Spirit to indwell our minds and hearts, then allow him to change the way we 'think'. 

Does this mean that we all get 'brainwashed' by some 'religious activity'? No, but it is a bit like having our brain washed! We find out how quickly the way we have been perceiving life has been affected by the way we have allowed our minds to think. In essence, we are all in need of a good 'washing' of our thought life and a replacement of all that is negative, unholy, and dishonoring to God to be accomplished. 

Sin will dominate our thoughts until we invite God's presence into our lives. We aren't being 'brainwashed' by some 'religious activity' as much as we are being 'brain cleansed'. Once the Spirit of God is in control, we begin to see things differently. We don't need to muster up positive thoughts to overcome negative things we are perceiving - we just need to tap into his presence and allow him to help us see those things through his eyes. Just sayin!

Who's vying for that spot?

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)

Have you ever taken notice of how easy it is to get your mind working in the wrong direction? It doesn't take much effort to drift down that bunny-trail without a care in the world, until all of a sudden you see how 'deep' it is! God tells us to 'fix' our thoughts - not like fixing your car, but to 'consider attentively'. When our minds go down the bunny-trail, there isn't a whole lot of 'attention' being paid to where we are headed. In fact, we are a bit aimless in those thoughts. We allow them to dictate the journey rather than us determining the journey.

We are to give our minds 'attentively' (on purpose, with determination) to think about who Jesus is and what he has done. What did he do while he was here on earth? What is he doing now that he is at the right hand of God the Father? How did he go about his work? Who mattered to him? What didn't faze him? In other words, we are to meditate upon who and what he is. These are indeed thoughts that are excellent and worthy of praise! If we are feeling a bit down, it is likely that our thoughts are not fixed on Jesus because he doesn't go down that bunny-hole!

True and honorable thoughts. That might take us a bit of effort, huh? It is easy to imagine what isn't 'fully true' because the truth can sometimes expose what we don't want exposed. It is easiest to get caught up in thoughts that call into question someone else's fault or faux pas and not ours. Remember this - to 'fix' upon something, there has to be determined motion toward it. Fix your thoughts upon truth and you will find yourself seeking truth, weeding out deception of all kinds in your thoughts, and looking toward what is honorable, right, pure, lovely, and ultimately admirable. 

We have a bird feeder that is 'well-attended' by the neighborhood flocks. They try to 'fix' upon the edge of the tray that holds the seed because that is how they get nourished. When there are ten birds all vying for the same spot in line on the perch, it is amazing to watch their behavior. They crawl on each other, flap their wings to stay on the perch, and generally cause more chaos than 'attentive feeding'. When there are so many thoughts vying for our attention, it easy to allow the chaos to be our focus and not Christ. Fix on him and you will find your thoughts nourish your soul, spirit, and heart a whole lot more! Just sayin!