We can’t control what is in the world, but we can control what is in our own thought life. We can choose the content of what we are thinking. We can’t do it perfectly, but we can make progress in filling our thought life more and more with God’s Word and the promises announced there.

Our thinking has four parts. I’ll post on two today and two tomorrow.

Ideas
We have been forming an idea system since we were born. We have been influenced through experience, the teachings of others, and watching the behavior of our family and community. We don’t realize what is reality and what is false reality in our lives. When we look at our ideas we do a reality check.

To transform our personal idea system from one of ruin to one of goodness, we have to replace our ideas with the idea system of Jesus. This is the most difficult and painful process in life. To actually change our minds.

Most people have their ideas firmly established when it comes to life, values, and beliefs by the time they are 12-13 years old. It is extraordinarily rare for us to change our thinking after that. It is also essential that we do so in order to expand our thinking to be more and more like Jesus would think if he were us.

What is an example of thinking that many people hold to that is destructive in their lives?

Sexual images are overwhelming in society. We see sexualized images in advertisement and the media everywhere. Pleasure and power await us as we think of these images. The multibillion dollar pornography business is a huge tool that Satan uses today to tie minds to an endless cycle of lust and guilt and emptiness.

As we are being transformed to be like Jesus, the key is to take the destructive ideas and images we have and replace them with the ideas and images Jesus possesses. We take on the mind of Christ. This is a possibility for life in his Kingdom now.

1 Cor. 2:16 (NLT) 
How could they? For,

But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.