Mental Hygiene!
Sunday’s Monday
Mental Hygiene!
God gave me this title out of the blue while I was watching an old tv program. It struck me as significant the moment I heard it, so I jotted down the word’s mental hygiene. Later in the day these words were still bouncing around in my mind so, I asked God to show me the relevance of mental hygiene and His intent for my understanding. The first thing that popped into my mind was Stinking Thinking, a term used when one’s thoughts are contrary to their best interest. Looking in yourdictionary.com, mental hygiene; The concern and care for a 'clean', healthy (state of) mind (conscience and thought). Interesting isn’t it! What we think often determines who we are! As it is written in Colossians 2:8 (NLT), Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
Our minds are bombarded with infinite information every day! Second by second our feel, see, smell and touch systems are busy sending information to the brain to be processed. Our brain then evaluates and organizes this information into files according to what it deems pertinent for today and stores the rest for future reference. The beauty of this system is our mind is a trainable, and controllable organ inside the human body. However, there is a flip side to this beautiful system in that the majority of people haven’t learned how to control the minds input and output. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NLT), We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ, who will help us learn, apply, and enjoy the virtues of right thinking.
Think of it this way when you go outside smelling like garbage you attract undesirable insects and are miserable. The same is true with negative thinking, when you are looking for something bad to happen, you will find it “everytime”! As I eluded to earlier, our life is ultimately guided by our thoughts as well who we are is determined in like manner. I heard my pastor quote this phrase a long time ago and it stuck with me, “when you sow a thought, you reap an action. When you sow an action, you reap a habit and if you sow a habit, you’ll reap a lifestyle.” A better explanation of this is found in James 1:14-15 (NLT), 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. Realizing our desires bring forth the human traits of individualism, which is merely a me first attitude; hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure; minimalism, expend no more effort than it takes to get by; and relativism, justifying one’s lifestyle through comparison of another’s.
I told you the first thing that came to my mind when I ask God to explain stinking thinking. The second thing that popped up came from a song from the late 1990’s by Aaron Tippin, titled "You've Got to Stand for Something" and it goes on to say or you’ll fall for anything! Taking this thought a little deeper, should anyone believe wrongly, they’ve already fallen for the anything and it’s easy for one to discern where their thinking is based, through honestly reviewing their lifestyle. Examining, peace of mind, joy in life, overall attitude, and concern for others. Should anyone of these suffer lack, we are nurturing a degree of stinking thinking and it’s time to face the reality in Matthew 6:27 (NLT), Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? If the answer is no, there’s no better time than today to seriously apply Romans 12:2 (NLT), Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. God has made a door!
My prayer this week is Philippians 4:8 (NLT), 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. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Amen
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK BY BEING A BLESSING TO OTHERS!
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