What If You Could Change Your World

There are several billion people every day that would change their circumstances if they could. Whilst many of these cannot do this, many also can. There is a discretionary component in many of our lives. Sure, we have to work for a living but we have a say over how we live our lives.

We don’t have to wait for a New Year to arrive to make resolutions with ourselves—covenants with God. When we are serious we can achieve anything we set our minds on.

What if changing our world was as simple as addressing the way we feel?

How would we do that? We can influence how we feel by becoming aware of and adjusting our thinking.

The Mind – Perhaps Our Greatest Gift from God

Besides the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s Presence and the essence and evidence of his Kingdom within us, the greatest gift we have, personally, is our minds. Underpinning the mind, of course, is our heart. Both these together work in unison to inspire us to decide what we do.

Again, underpinning the mind is the heart, which we are to guard (Proverbs 4:23), because our hearts influence our minds.

But, most of all, our minds decide. We can override our weaker feelings by disciplined thinking. Discipline is a habit to be developed and maintained. We are the ones who decide.

Disregarding how we feel we can decide to do the right thing; to change; to delay no longer what we know we must do. We can take counsel from our hearts, but our minds still decide. And if we pray for wisdom, God will give us direction.

Utilising this gift, the clear mind, we, in one moment, have the capacity to change our worlds. We can decide to keep going—to persist—or to change direction entirely.

We Are Personally Responsible

If we have no influence over our lives, who does? If we can’t change ourselves, who else could we expect to do it? We are the ones who can change our lives through the simple act of changing our minds—to point our minds in the direction of our purpose.

We are personally responsible for chasing down this purpose; for determining what it is. Decisions of the committed kind emerge out of our purpose.

But we have many implicit purposes beyond ‘the purpose’. We have the purpose to maintain our health, to work, to grow as persons. In each of these areas and more, we have the capacity to change our worlds every instant.

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We are the ones who can change our worlds. Using the strength in our minds, we can decide to change. When we do we can expect the full support of God. God desires a spirited people.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.