“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
Romans 12:2 NLT
The average person has about 48.6 thoughts per minute, according to the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at the University of Southern California. That adds up to a total of 70,000 thoughts per day!
Surprisingly, 90% of those thoughts are said to be the same as the thoughts that we had yesterday.
That means that only 10% of our thoughts are new thoughts!
The patterns of our thinking will dictate what we think, so imagine what would happen if we increased the number of new thoughts we had every day. Imagine what would happen if we decreased the number of old thoughts that run unchecked through our minds every day.
Our human tendency is to dwell on the past, to rehearse our failures or the painful things that have happened to us, to ruminate rather than reflect on our past experiences.
Paul writes that if we want to be transformed into a new person in Christ we must change the way we think. We must begin to think new thoughts and think in new ways.
He urges us to renew our minds so that we will know God’s will for our lives.
God’s says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
We can know the thoughts that God thinks towards us, and about us, if we align our thoughts with His thoughts and His word. When we do, we will begin to think new and greater thoughts and think in new and higher ways.
Let’s be continually transformed by the renewing of our minds, changing the way we think, so that we can know God’s good and perfect will and plan for our lives.