Prov 23:7 says ‘as a man thinks within himself, so he is.’ Our thoughts are powerful and can determine our lives to a great extent. If we think we are useless and limited, we rarely try to do anything special. Cris Rogers has just published a book called ‘What If We Knew What God Knows About Us’ and asserts ‘what we think of ourselves governs what we do… What if we knew what God knows about us? What if we’re transformed by it and our hands lived it?’
Paul tells us to take the helmet of salvation (Eph 6:17). A helmet protects the head, and we need God’s protection for our thoughts. We need to understand how God sees us and be prepared to believe that, rather than our own inflated or humiliated versions of ourselves or the opinions of other people. Mental illness causes great distress to many people and is a result of a misalignment, to some extent, of our thoughts and God’s thoughts.
Rom 12:1-2 reminds us of the importance of the transforming and renewing of our minds. Old ideas, opinions, and worldviews must be replaced. We must allow God’s truth to continually wash away the world’s filth, lies, and confusion from our minds and adopt God’s perspective. Paul talks of taking every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor 10:5) and by wearing the helmet of salvation, we protect our minds from the lies of the enemy.
