Worry. I'm talking about good, ol' fashioned worry. We can all get stuck in that mindset and, unfortunately, no one is immune from it. Worry essentially means dwelling on potential trouble. It's the dwelling that keeps us hooked, gets us emotionally worked up, causes mental chaos, and even leads to physical sickness. But, as Christians, we have some very powerful tools against it!
The opposite of godly thoughts are "What if?" thoughts. When we dwell on those thoughts, they begin to become our internal reality and soon, without us noticing, they shape our external reality. When we start noticing that we're entertaining the "What if?" thoughts, let's consider 2 Corinthians 10:5b, "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." To me, it seems as if we are being told to be active in controlling our thoughts and not just allow them to swirl around. When we actively use thought stopping (which is both biblical and an intervention in therapy), we don't allow them to do as they please.
So, after we choose to say NO to the "What ifs?" what do we do next? We then replace them with godly thoughts. To do this, we have to actively choose to GAZE at the beauty of the Lord, instead of choosing to gaze at the worry. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on the One who is perfect and trustworthy, our minds calm down and our hearts realign. It is because we are gazing that we can actually change our thinking!
This change doesn't have to come and go. The good news is, we can sustain it! We keep this new way of thinking by following what Philippians 4:8 says, "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." It's nearly impossible to fix our minds on those things if we are still allowing the old thoughts to have control.
It may seem out of the question to you right now, but you can actually have mental peace. It all starts with noticing the unruly and ungodly thoughts. The Lord wants our minds to be clear and without worry. Talk with Him about what you are worried about and ask Him to help you to say NO, to choose to GAZE and to FIX your thoughts.
