You are what you think

"What you think is what you say; what you say is what you do; what you do becomes habit; your habits become your characteristics; your characteristics define you." - Margaret Thatcher.

Maggie caused alot of dissension through her policies and sometimes bull in a china shop attitude, but this phrase is true. 

In order to sin, the sinful act must first enter your mind. In Genesis 3:1-6, Adam and Eve sinned against God. You will notice that the devil first put the thought of eating of the forbidden tree into her mind. Then after much deliberation and reason, Eve succumbed to temptation. In the same way in Matthew 4 when satan tries to tempt Jesus, satan shows Jesus what he could have. He TRIES to fill his mind with sinful thoughts, appealing to the natural man, expecting Jesus to fall. However, unlike Adam and Eve (and fortunately for us!) Jesus knew who He was and what His purpose was therefore He did not fall to satan's tempting. ("Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." Hebrews 2:14 / "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15).

That is why it is so important that we are careful with what we fill our minds with. Once something takes a hold it takes great willpower to get it out. As Margaret Thatcher says, in most cases what you think usually leads to what you do. We should focus our minds upon God. If we do that then the sin will not enter our minds, and if it does not enter our minds it causes us no problem. ("Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7).

Romans 13:13 tells us what we have to do: "13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkeness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy."

Romans 13:14 tells us how we can accomplish it: "14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts." 

In the NIV Romans 13:14 states: "Rather, clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

If we do not think about our sin problem, but rather focus on Christ, then we will not succumb to our sin problem.

This is where pastors and churches and organisations go so wrong. Take pornography as an example. There are meetings on pornography and how to overcome it, there are accountability schemes to help you overcome it, there are sermons and books on the problems of pornography and lust. These methods are not going to be completely effective to help people resist the urge to look at things. Why not? - because all these methods are focusing on the problem. The person suffering is constantly being reminded that he has a problem and is constantly focusing on and thinking about the problem and how to overcome it. It is inevitable that they won't be able to resist the urge if it is constantly on their mind. If on the other hand, they do not even think about pornography but cast it out of their minds and seek the Lord and think upon Him, focusing upon Him and everything He is and Has done, then those suffering from a problem with pornography will begin to see an immediate difference. Put Romans 13:14 into practice. Do not even think about things that are sinful, rather focus upon Christ. Next time a sinful thought enters your mind, or you have an urge to sin; don't think about how to resist the temptation, but change your thinking altogether. Start to think about Christ, think about the sacrifice he made and his perfection. Submit to God and the temptation will soon disappear - the devil will soon flee from you. The first few times may prove difficult, however through the help of the Holy Spirit soon you will be able to resist temptation and become sanctified to God more than before. 

Think about sin and you will sin. Think about God and you will become God-like. I know of a man who has many, many problems. This man constantly talks about God, the Bible and spiritual things. What I find interesting is; this man rarely talks about Jesus and the love of God, he always talks about the devil and sin, how bad it is and the problems it causes. He acknowledges and believes that the devil is beaten, yet he still choses to focus upon him and the terrible state of the world. I'm sure if he started to focus upon the love and peace of Christ he would start to see a change in his life for the better.

Do not focus on the problem but focus on Christ, then there is no problem - this is not some self-help phrase, but rather it is saying that Christ is more powerful than any problem we may have. If we focus on Him we will soon get shut of our problems.

Romans 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts."

-BACChristian