“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6 (NLT)
Many of us have had someone hurt us, either unintentionally or intentionally. Sometimes, we think about how we are going to argue with him/her in advance. We figure out what he/she are going to say and then our response. We have the entire argument all by ourselves. In other cases, we think about what the other did wrong and how thoughtless he/she was. We work ourselves up about the other person’s wrongdoing.
But we have control of our thoughts. Instead of focusing on the negative, we can look at the positive. We can ask ourselves if he/she meant to hurt us. Instead of having the argument in our heads, we can explain to the other person how what he/she did made us feel. He/she may not even realize we were hurt. By changing our thoughts, we can start to focus on peace.
Prayer: God, thank you for giving me the ability to control my thoughts. Show me the areas where I need to change my thoughts. Help me to remember to control my thoughts and take captive those that lead to death in my relationships. In Jesus name. Amen.