Proper Thinking

“For as he thinks, so he is in his heart ” Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)

By John E. Schrock, Businessman

Underline the key concepts found in this principle.

"As a man thinks..." means the processing of thoughts. Our mind is an amazing gift from God, and no one fully understands it. But we do know two things it does: it reasons, and it imagines. Reasoning is more like calculating, which leads us to concepts, opinions or considerations, while imagination leads us to ideas or possibilities. Although they both work within our mind (processor), most of us operate more predominantly in one of the two. While we may reason well and be full of logic and common sense, we may be weak in creative possibility thinking. This might be because of a bad experience or a failure.

Some people are dreamers; they are never satisfied with things as they are. This is good if they are a part of a team, but may be dangerous if they function as an individual. Because they focus on what can be, they may forget to practice common sense and sound reasoning in the now. So, as the Proverb above says, "As a man thinks, so is he," which means we may determine our future by being aware of our thinking. What we think about today is what we will become tomorrow.

Thoughts always precede actions. A person is really what he thinks about, not always what he does. Our courts judge us by what we do or have done, but God knows that we will eventually do what we think. So, He warns us in advance to be careful of our thoughts. Jesus said, "The law says, Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ but I say that if you look on a woman and lust after her, you have already committed adultery in your heart." God wants to protect us from committing the act by convicting us while it is still in our thought stage. The law also says, "Thou shalt not kill," but Jesus said don’t hate. Again, He knew that hatred leads to killing. The point is, we should be aware of our thoughts because they will grow and eventually become actions.

Knowing this, should we be surprised at the violence in our kids or the lack of morals in our country? Guess what. We have created it by our media and our programming. The outcome of a child or a society is the product of an environment we have created by our philosophies. We must remember this pattern:

Knowledge creates thoughts.
Thoughts will produce actions.
Actions will form habits.
Habits will form our destiny.

If we want a positive future, we must control our thought pattern. The question is, how can we control our thoughts? First, we must want to do it, and if so, we can renew our minds or thoughts by controlling the input (Romans 12:2). We must select good things to read, watch good T.V. programs, and carefully choose our associates. We must consider the outcome of everything we put into our minds. What fruit will it bear? We must remember that our minds are like computers that can be programmed to our choice, and it will bear fruit accordingly. Our thoughts will be conformed to the values we choose to follow. We are not destined to live out a certain or specific lifestyle. It is a matter of choice.

God has given us free will. Our destiny is within our control. If we don’t like where we are or where we are going, we can change it by taking charge of our thoughts. There is a law of attraction; we attract what we give attention to.

This principle is part of the one year character development program: Foundations For Achievement.

Thoughts to Ponder:
A mind once expanded by an idea will never return to its original dimension. .