Stop It

Proverbs 4:23 in the Easy to Read version of the Bible says:

Be careful what you think, 

because your thoughts run your life.

Max Lucado's devotional gives the following example of that verse:
Your coworker...needled you about your performance....  Why was he so hard on you?  You begin to wonder.  I didn't deserve any of that.  Who is he to criticize me?  Besides, he has as much taste as a rice cake.  Have you seen those shoes he wears?...
You need to make a choice.  Am I going to keep a list of these wrongs?  You can keep the list....Or you can...defy the culprit.  Quote a verse if you have to:  "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:14)....  You are not a victim of your thoughts.  You have a vote.

I am embarrassed how many times I allow my thoughts to 'play the tape' of wrongs done against me.  There was a time, about a year ago, that as I drove myself to work, I found myself clutching the steering wheel of the car.  My knuckles were white I was clutching so hard.  In the short drive from my house to work, I'd allowed myself to think on a hurtful situation over and over again until I was upset.  Walking into work, I'd already set my attitude.  There was nothing different between my attitude and the bottom of a grungy garbage can.

God is very clear in the verse in Proverbs...your thoughts run your life.

And Max Lucado writes that I have a vote as to what I think on.

The answer to controlling my thoughts, is very clearly explained in this clip from the old TV show, The Bob Newhart Show.  Click the picture to watch the You Tube video:

I have the power to say STOP IT to my thoughts.  Playing the tape of hurts or wrongs is not healthy.

S-T-O-P, space, I-T

With God's amazing grace, it is possible to say those two words.

Give it a try...