TRANSFORMATION STARTS IN THE MIND

A lot of the time when we see ‘problem areas’ in our lives, the first thing we try to do is see how we can solve it through various actions. If it’s improving productivity, we gives ourselves tasks and put pressure on ourselves to achieve them. We may tell ourselves to go to sleep every day at a certain time ignorer to wake up earlier, we tend to overburden ourselves with daily regiments and tasks to be achieved.

None of this is wrong, it is important to organise our external lives, but what I have often found is the same zeal with which we start this long list of daily tasks doesn’t often last. Eventually the fire burns out and we return to the same starting point, struggling with the same issues. This is because we live in an age of instant gratification, where we glorify the appearance of a thing more than the reality of it. So, often we find ourselves trying to solve internal problems with external actions.

Jesus said, many will come saying they prophesied in His name, healed the sick in His name, cast out demons in His name and still He will turn to them and say, “Get away from Me, I never knew you.” (See Matthew 7:22-23). This points to an important truth, the heart matters more to Christ than our actions. The bible says in Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” You can fake actions for a while, but the truth in your heart will always come through in the end.

If you really want to see lasting change in your life, it’s less about what you do and more about how you think. In our core scripture Romans 12:2, we see that transformation happens when you change how you think. This is why God calls for us to not let anxious thoughts reign in our minds but to instead approach Him with our needs from the stand point of thanksgiving, or why we are to cast down every high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (see 2 Corinthians 10:5-5).

While external circumstances are real and cannot be denied, it can be easy to take the unprofitable route of negativity and blame, but the only way to real change comes in the choice to focus and set your mind on better things, with that God will lead you along the right path where no need is unmet.