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Mind your mind
When we’re young, we’re often told, ‘Mind your manners.’ If we try to get involved in something that doesn’t concern us and cross the line between helping and interfering, we might be told, ‘Mind your business.’ But here’s some advice that applies to all parts of life: ‘Mind your mind.’ Proverbs 23 gives us six principles to live by when it comes to thinking:
1) Your thoughts determine your character. ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.’ Before we tell a lie, we let it come into our mind and think like a liar for a brief time. Before we give in to a temptation, we let the desire to do that thing rule our thoughts for a moment. So if we don’t want to do something, we must try to stop our thoughts dwelling on it.
2) Don’t waste your thoughts on people who don’t value them. ‘Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words’ (v.9 NKJV).
3) The first person you must learn to lead is yourself. ‘Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge’ (v.12 NKJV). We can’t set an example to others if our own self-control is lacking.
4) Be sure your role models are people with good values and integrity. ‘Do not let your heart envy sinners’ (v.17 NKJV).
5) Stay confident that the vision God has given you will happen. ‘Be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off’ (v.17-18 NKJV).
6) Stay committed to what you know is right. Don’t get side-tracked. ‘Hear…and be wise; and guide your heart in the way’ (v.19 NKJV).
Our thoughts have power. Let’s do our best to ensure they line up with God’s thoughts as much as we can.
What Now?
Read carefully through the six points and Bible verses in today’s reading, taking time to pray about each one and asking for wisdom in how to apply them to your life every day.
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