Choosing our thoughts

As much as I talk and teach about the importance of our thoughts, it continues to be a challenge in my life, and I assume for all of us.

Someone once said, "The most important things in life are the thoughts you to choose to think."

If this is true, and I believe it is, then the most important decision you'll make today is what to think about. You can think thoughts of faith or thoughts of doubt, thoughts of hope or thoughts of despair, thoughts of love or thoughts of hate. These thoughts will find their way into your words and your actions as the day wears on.

"Thoughts should be tested before they're transmitted," said William Arthur Ward. "If our thoughts taste unkind, critical or unfair, we should refuse to release them into the dangerous world of words."

Every temptation begins with a thought. So does every act of goodness. Paul said, "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." (Romans 12:2)

Today, let's let thoughts of faith, hope and love fill our minds. Let's make a choice to believe the best about the future God has planned for us. That's faith.

Let's make a choice to expect the best in each situation, because God is at work in the details. That's hope.

Let's make a choice to give the best to those around us, because this is what he has called us to. That's love.

Our lives will become what our thoughts make it.

Be transformed, then, by the renewing of your mind as Paul writes.