Wow!  I was driving along and read the bumper sticker on the car in front of me.  “Don’t Believe Everything You Think.”  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  There was no ad along with it.  Apparently no sponsors.

I have thought about that bumper sticker since I saw it last week!

It is a simple call to discernment!  We think of needing it in conversation, as we read and listen and watch, but discerning the thoughts that fly through our heads?

That is the most important place we need to discern.

Before we say a word out loud, before we allow that thought to take root, before it settles into our assumptions.  We need to realize that not all those voices in our head are good and wise and wholesome.  They aren’t all uplifting and true.  We need to study and examine them just as critically as we do the words we hear, the books we read, the sermons we listen to, and the music we allow to affect our values.

Think of some of the things we think:

She is beautiful and her family looks so good on Sundays.  She must have her life all together and doesn’t understand what a mess mine is.  Truth: all it means when someone looks good on Sundays is that they were able to get ready and come to church.  It doesn’t tell you anything about their life the rest of the week!  If she is beautiful, it doesn’t even tell you if she thinks/know she is!

My life is a mess!  I can’t be useful to anyone, especially GOD.  Truth: your life is a mess compared to what you want it to be.  Be specific.  In what areas is it a mess?  Are you disorganized?  There is an abundance of help for that.  Start working on it.  Is it a mess spiritually?  If you have sinned, whether in personal relationships or with a difficult past, make the time to get some help from a good local pastor or counselor.  Ask around to get recommendations.  Forgiveness is free.  Untangling relationship messes can take time, but they don’t get better as they sit and aren’t dealt with.  GOD uses people who have been forgiven and understand they have been forgiven.  He is a miracle worker!

We have days when we are down and others when we are up.  Our thinking reflects our moods and a lot of ideas that are traveling through our heads.  It is up to us to choose/discern the thoughts that are true.  Then toss the rest.

Scripture describes it as taking every thought captive.  Dwelling on the good, true and wholesome.

Do you have problems with your thinking, wondering if it from GOD or not?

Know the truth and compare your thoughts with that ruler, not the voices in your head.

PS.  Today is my 400th post!  Gritty Grace started July  2010!  A lot has happened since then.  You can look through the top posts as well as the posts referred to at the bottom of each post for a taste of what has happened in the past 3 years.  Some posts are obviously better than others.  Some series I may even remove when I work on my blog this Fall.  But it is all there for you to browse through, realizing that the more recent posts are the ones that most reflect where I am today.