Your Life Is Shaped by Your Thoughts
BY RICK WARREN — MAY 6, 2017
“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2b NLT).
You cannot become all God created you to be until you understand the five factors that influence your identity. The first two are chemistry (how you are made) and connections (your relationships). You are a product of the way God created you and of the relationships in your life.
Your identity is also influenced by two other factors that we’ll examine today: your circumstances and your consciousness.
Circumstances are the things that happen to you and around you — none of which you control. You are a product of the trauma, troubles, suffering, shame, shock, pressures, and pain that have shaped your life. Perhaps even abuse has affected your identity. If you’ve ever had a series of failures or a catastrophe, it has left an indelible mark on who you are.
Consciousness is how you talk to yourself. And you know what? If you talked to your friends the way you talk to yourself, you probably wouldn’t be friends anymore, because our thoughts are filled with the lies we’ve heard from other people that we’ve let simmer and fester. When we repeat other people’s thoughts in our head, they go deeper and deeper into our consciousness, and they begin to shape our identity.
In Proverbs 4:23, the Bible says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (GNT). Your thoughts don’t have to be true to hurt you; you just have to believe them. If you tell yourself your marriage won’t last, then it won’t. If you’re afraid you can’t do something, then you won’t. Your thoughts run your life!
Your circumstances may be out of your control, but God is in control of everything. Your thoughts shape who you are, but you can change the way you think. Your circumstances and consciousness have shaped who you are, but the way you respond to your circumstances and the thoughts you choose to believe will shape the rest of your life.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the fifth factor that influences our identity: choices.
Talk It Over
- How do you respond to a difficult situation or circumstance?
- How might you need to change the way you think? What people or situations may influence your thoughts in a negative way?
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