In recent years, much has been made of the fact that thoughts and attitudes influence people in many ways. Many medical schools and hospitals have received funding to study the mind-body connection and implement programs to help patients heal physically by becoming healthier mentally. It’s terrific that the medical community is paying attention to the mind-body connection, but the understanding of the power of thoughts is not a new development. In fact, it is addressed in both the Old and New Testaments, written thousands of years ago!
In Romans 14:14, the apostle Paul indicates his strong belief that thoughts are very. powerful. Responding to a heated debate over whether or not Christians in the early Church should eat meat that had been offered to idols, he wrote, “I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is [forbidden as] essentially unclean (defiled and unholy in itself). But [none the less] it is unclean (dehled and unholy) to anyone who thinks it is unclean” (emphasis mine).
Paul did not believe meat offered to idols could be tainted because he knew idols were nothing but wood or stone. However, many people did not see things as Paul did, and he understood that. So his advice to them was not to eat the meat if they thought it was unclean. He knew that eating meat they considered defiled would affect their conscience in the same way as it would have had the meat actually been unclean. In other words, in a sense, perception is reality.
The more I ponder Romans 14:14, the more amazed lam by the depth of Paul’s insight. The principle he understood was true when applied to meat offered to idols in ancient times, and it is still true today in any area of life. For example, a person who thinks, I will never get a good job is not likely to get one. Peeple whose thoughts have convinced them they can never do anything right tend to make more mistakes than normal and have a high rate of failure.
People who consider themselves accident prone seem to have one accident after anorher. In its extreme form, allowing thoughts to become realities can result in conditions such as anorexia, in which patients whose weight and body fat are far below normal are convinced in their minds that they are grossly overweight. They are. so deeply convinced that even when they look in the mirror, the image they see appears a great deal larger that it it actually is.
We can never move beyond what we think and believe. Many people today don’t even bother to think rationally about what they believe and sometimes end up building their entire lives‘on beliefs that simply are not true. For them, whatever “they” say becomes. truth-and “they” may be the news media, a celebrity, a group of . friends, or others who enjoy sharing opinions, but may or may not really have any idea what is true. When we believe lies, our minds can actually limit us and even keep us from doing what God created us to do. But, if we will contend for the truth, embrace the truth, and buildour lives upon the truth, we will succeed in every endeavor.
Think about It
What one thought do you believe limits you more than anything else? Do you believe you can change it?
