Change Your Thought, Change Your Life
Devotional Reading: He answered, “The Scriptures say: Bread alone will not satisfy, but true life is found in every word, which constantly goes forth from God’s mouth.”
Matthew 4:4 TPT
I discover that the problem with how we attack our problems is that we go after the problem. We focus solely on the behavior by making a commitment to start or stop doing something. Probably, you’ve found yourself doing this too. You’ve decided, perhaps even declared, that you were going to change, and made resolutions;
- This year I’m going to eat healthily and exercise every day!
- I’m not going to enter into any relationship with anyone who is mean to me. In fact, I’m not going to date at all!
- I’m tired of wasting my time on social media and comparing my life with everyone else’s. I’m getting off for good this time!
- That’s it. This is the last time. I will never look at pornography again!
- I’m not going to exaggerate or lie or gossip to get attention or feel better about myself. No more!
- I’m going to read the Bible every morning this whole year!
Whatever your resolution was, how is it going now?
I would guess not well. Why? Behavior modification doesn’t work, the reason is that the focus is only on modifying behavior. You don’t get to the root of the problem, which is the thought that produces the behavior. To be more specific, the problem is the neural pathway that leads to the behavior.
What I’m saying is this, thinking I can change a behavior just by removing the behavior is absurd. The behavior isn’t the root problem. The neural pathway that leads me to the behavior is the problem. If I stop a behavior, it will come back, unless I
- remove the lie at the root of the behavior, (the ones the devil feeds us) and
- replace the neural pathway that leads me to the behavior.
So then, how do we get these new thoughts? It is still the replacement principles. We won’t get them from scrolling through social media posts, listening to our favorite playlist, or phoning a friend for their opinion.
To stop the lies and replace them with truth, we need to look to God’s Word.
That’s what Jesus did. When Satan tempted Him, Jesus couldn’t whip out His iPhone and open up a Bible app to search for a verse that might help. He had already internalized truths from God’s Word that created a helpful neural pathway. When tempted, Jesus followed that path, leading Him to obedience and freedom.
That’s what we need to do.
Prayer and Confession
I allow the Word of God dwell in my heart richly. I am changed and transformed by it. Amen!
Further Reading – Colossians 3:16, Psalm 119:11, 2 Timothy 3:17
