Thinking Becomes Behavior – Abide in the Vine

Lately, former procrastinators, I read that I need to remember I am lovable and worthy.  Hmmmm. I want truth to base that on, not just a declaration.  The truth is God made me – in His image.  He is love.  He is worthy.  He designed me to be like Him, reflect Him.  He chose me before the foundation of the world to be His.  He sent His Son Jesus to redeem me and secure me for His own eternally.  He’s made me His co-laborer.  That settles it for me. These truths also make me valuable and significant.  Do you recognize these truths about yourself?

We can have unlovable thinking and behavior.  We can think and behave in ways unworthy of who God made us to be.  (Ephesians 4:1)  Thinking and behavior are changeable.  The same amazing God who fearfully and wonderfully made us sends His Holy Spirit to convict us. He gives us the strength and power to change so we align with Him. (Romans 8:29)

Let’s separate our being made by God from faulty thinking and behavior that’s developed in us.

We’re not locked into being who we’ve made ourselves to be over the years.  We’re not locked into being who we’ve become under the faulty influence of others.  As former procrastinators, we know twisted thinking can become wrong beliefs that takes root and affect our behavior for many years.  We do not have to be held in the grip of wrong thinking. 

“I’m always late.”

“This is just who I am.”

“I’m bad at ____.”

“Don’t ask me to ____.  I can’t.” 

“I have to complete chores before leaving the house.”  (Major delay)

“I’ll never get it right.”

“This is the hand I’ve been dealt.”

“I can’t do anything about it.”

We can be comfortable or settle in a place where we ought not to be, accustomed to wrong thinking, believing it’s the truth.  We act stuck. That prevents life flow from the Vine, creating blockage that causes us to wither. 

Twisted thinking has some truth in it, but it’s been turned toward error.  Maybe truth wrongly applied, incomplete truth, truth that ignores another truth, or falsehood labeled truth. 

“I love children too much to discipline them.”

“I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help myself.”

“I can’t control them so this is the way it is.”

“I’m supposed to act this way.”

Sometimes we hold onto the Vine for dear life so His life will flood in and take over.  Sometimes we hold on and He sends a steady drip-drip-drip that enables us to think and do well moment by moment. 

God, please, reveal any twisted or wrong thinking I have. Help me lie on your anvil so you can hammer out the twist and make my thinking straight.  Align my thinking with yours. That will rightly affect my behavior. You will set me free.

What faulty or twisted thinking do you have?  How do you behave because of it?