Are You "Thinking Under The Influence?"

January is always an exciting time of year, new goals, and new dreams, new hopes...a clean slate. The anticipation begins after Christmas and continues to build towards New Year’s Day. People begin telling their friends and family what it is they will do differently in the coming year, lose weight, get out of debt, make more money, start a business etc... Every year I hear the same goals over and over except one..."I am going to change the way I think this year!"

Let's get right to it, unless we change the way we think, we will not see a different result. I have always loved this quote, "the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing, and expect different results." It seems so simple, so why do we have such a hard time doing it? Why is it that every time we start making progress we keep getting sucked back to our old habits? Why does it feel like every time you take 2 steps forward, you go 3 steps back?

It is my belief that the reason for this is, we are guilty of thinking under the influence. In the book of Romans, scripture speaks to us about how to really change our position and results. The author tells us to be transformed by renewing our mind. When I read this I think of one of those transformers in the movie. One minute you are a Camaro, the next you are this huge machine that is indestructible. The really cool thing to me is this, that huge indestructible machine was there the entire time. That is what the author is saying about us, we can transform into the maximum version of what we are created to be, but only by renewing (or making new, creating a new thought process) of our mind.

The next verse instructs us to use sober thinking. Let's think about this for a minute. The opposite of sober is to be intoxicated, or to be under the influence. The use of this word in the original text does lend itself to the meaning of being drunk, but rather, to allowing outside influence not in agreement with God's word and laws to impact your decisions. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, "while we look not at the things which are seen,” The word "seen" gives reference to our 5 senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch). Paul tells us that these things are subject to change and should not influence our thoughts or decisions, but only those things which are eternal (the laws and principles of God).

Here is my challenge, before you get frustrated and give up on your resolutions and goals, check to see if you are "thinking under the influence".

If you would like help, I am offering a 12 week program designed specifically for this. The program is "Thinking Into Results" and is a proven method to get whatever result you desire.

Live On Purpose

Todd