“I recommend you start with this exercise: Monitor your default thoughts. Most of us are unaware of the inner dialogue we carry on with ourselves. Appraisals. Criticisms. Assumptions. They are knee-jerk, instinctual reactions. . . . When self-criticism or worry plays like a tape in your head, there is always a reason. Someone trained you to think this way. . . . Challenge those inner voices. Test them against God’s Word.”- Max Lucado
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”- John 8:31-32 (NIV)
Max Lucado concludes Chapter 2 of Tame Your Thoughts with the third and fourth good reasons to accept the Bible as the source of God’s truth.
3. Changed lives affirm it. The Bible’s impacted people like no other book. Hence, Max asserts, for the sake of discussion, apply the Bible to your thought life. Therefore, see if you don’t agree — the Bible works.
Most significantly, Max states, more than the opinions of other people, we need an authoritative voice. The declarations of our Maker. God, and God alone, has authority over how we should think. Above all, Scripture provides an unchanging standard of living.
4. Plan B is a train wreck. Certainly we’ve all tried plan B, listened to lesser voices. Instead, we need an:
- authoritative voice.
- owner’s manual.
- unchanging, immutable home plate.
Because, no matter what level of baseball you play, the width of home plate never changes. It’s always seventeen inches wide. Changing the width is not up for debate — it’s nonnegotiable.
In conclusion, Max exhorts:
“The width of home plate was permanent. So is the truth of God. It is the true north on the compass of our hearts . . . . Freedom comes as we know the truth. The strategy for destroying strongholds comes down to this: Take thoughts captive and test them against God’s Word.
Healthy thinking happens as we submit to Scripture. The Bible is God’s word on paper. Do you want to know his thoughts about you? Open the book!”
Today’s question: What most helps you monitor your default thoughts? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A rotten chess player – Satan”