Why Your Thoughts Are Important

Why Your Thoughts Are Important

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1

It’s one thing to model our behavior after other believers in the church and try to fit in, but it’s another thing altogether to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. That transformation starts with our thinking, and then it moves to our hearts, where it begins to take shape and mold us more permanently into who God intends for us to be.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As [a man] thinketh, so is he” (KJV). That Scripture is true in so many ways and settings. The glass is half empty or the glass is half full. In any given set of circumstances we face, our own view of them will determine and direct our response. Our thinking will illuminate what we feel inside—worry and despair or confidence and hope. James Allen, whom many consider to be the founder of the self-help movement with his inspirational writings, said, “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

A Harvard Business School study found that there are four critical factors in business: intelligence, information, skill, and attitude. The first three make up 7 percent of success, while attitude alone makes up the other 93.

Of course, we know character is a product of more than just our thoughts. The values we hold dear and how we implement them into our lives and relationships are key. The vision and mission and purpose we have for our lives and how they are guided and directed by God also build our character.

That’s how the apostle Paul was describing character: it starts with our mind and flows from there into every aspect of who we are and who the world will see and be impacted by—for good or not. And that “character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” (Romans 5:4).

Uncommon Key > Thoughts lead to values of the heart, which lead to character and hope. Guard your thoughts.