Is it Worth That Much of Your Mind?

Have you ever stopped to consider how much of your day is spent thinking about things that really don't deserve that much of your attention?

Not necessarily bad things. Sometimes it's a conversation you keep replaying, somebody else's opinion of you, what everyone else seems to be doing, or something you saw that suddenly has you questioning whether you're where you're supposed to be.

I've been thinking more about ‘thought life’ lately because our thoughts don't just disappear when we move on to something else. What we continually allow to occupy our minds has a way of shaping how we see ourselves, our lives, and eventually the decisions we make.

Proverbs 23:7 tells us, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” And Philippians 4:8 gives us some direction about what deserves our mental attention—whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

I think we sometimes read that Scripture as though Paul is simply telling us to think happy thoughts. But there's something much more intentional happening there. He's giving us a standard for what we allow to take up residence in our minds.

Because everything that enters your mind doesn't deserve to stay there.

That's especially important now because we have access to more people's thoughts, opinions, lifestyles, accomplishments, problems, and expectations than we've ever had before. You can begin your day perfectly content with your own life and within minutes find yourself questioning it because you've spent too much time looking at someone else's.

And it doesn't only happen through social media.

Sometimes we spend too much time in the court of other people's opinions, mentally arguing our case before people who never asked for an explanation. Other times, it's comparison. We start measuring where we are against where someone else appears to be. Then there are trends that can make us feel as though we should be pursuing something simply because everyone else is talking about it.

Even in Christian spaces, we have to be careful. Something can sound spiritual and still not be God's instruction for you. If we're constantly consuming what everybody else says God is doing “in this season,” we can become so occupied with their revelation that we stop paying attention to what God has actually been saying to us.

That's why stewardship doesn't only apply to our money, our time, or our gifts. We have to steward our thoughts too.

That doesn't mean you'll never have a negative thought, become distracted, compare yourself, or wonder what somebody thinks about you. The question is what happens after the thought arrives. Do you give it a permanent seat, or do you examine it against what you know to be true?

I've learned that peace of mind requires some participation from me. I can't ask God to guard my mind while giving everything unrestricted access to it. There are things I have to stop entertaining, conversations I don't need to keep replaying, and opinions that simply don't deserve the amount of mental space I've given them.

Philippians 4:8 reminds me that I can be intentional about where I allow my mind to settle.

So maybe the question isn't only, “What have I been thinking about?”

Maybe it's, “Is what I've been thinking about worthy of this much of me?”

Your attention is valuable.

Steward it well.