Any time I step outside, I marvel when I look at nature. I see God’s fingerprints all over. I think about all the wonders of His unique creative touch with each animal and creature. Every detail about them is spectacular. God’s creation is something to marvel about, and may we never lose our wonder! When God created Man, Scripture says, “He created him above all creatures” (Genesis 1:22), and “He created them on purpose, for a purpose” (Genesis 1:26). That includes our thinking. Every word we speak, every step we take, every action we make, starts with a thought. I am fortunate that my career has allowed me to study human mental processes and behavior. I am not a scientist; however, I have studied the biological side of Psychology, and I can tell you they are an intertwined process.
In Romans 12, Paul talks about the renewing of the mind. God, in all His Sovereignty, as He was designing us in our mother’s womb, “…gave us what we needed to have a sound mind” (Jeremiah 1:5). The reason we have the freedom to have a sound mind is because that is how God wired our thinking. There is a scientific term called EpiGenetics. Epi comes from the Greek, meaning “above.” Another way to state it would be mind over matter. It simply means we have control over our thoughts because God wired us that way. We are wired for love. In science, they call it Optimum Bias. When we control our thoughts, we can control our genetic expression. Think about a light switch. We have the power to flip that switch to God’s thinking, rather than our stinking thinking. Every time we have a thought, it will have a chemical response in our bodies. When we speak or think about God’s thoughts and truths, we have good chemicals moving throughout our bodies. When we have stinking thinking, bad chemicals move throughout our bodies.
Our thoughts have a profound effect on our lives. Your thoughts matter. It is important to stop and think about what it is you’re thinking about. Your thoughts become your words, your words become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character becomes your destiny.
I have had the privilege to see Romans 12 on a molecular level. In next week’s devotional, I will speak more on how our thoughts grow into mindsets. In the meantime, if you would like to see this or learn more about the power of your thinking, you can visit my website at startyourjourney.net.