Changing the way you think could be the most important New Year’s resolution you make this year. To start your New Year in the best possible way, use this reading plan to see how the scriptures encourage us to renew and adjust the way we think. God cares about our thoughts and wants to alleviate the mental anguish that comes with negative, despairing thoughts.
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Day 1
Scriptures: Romans 12:1-5, 1 Peter 1:13-15
This year can be so much better than last if you adopt new thought patterns. In my work as a spiritual director and therapist, I see every day how powerfully people’s thoughts either empower or derail them. It doesn’t have to be terribly difficult to make changes that have a wonderful impact on your mood and outlook, which ultimately will set the tone for your year.
The apostle Paul has some wonderful things to teach us! Romans 12:2 challenges and comforts me more than any other verse that deals with the experience of our inner world of thoughts. I love that Paul writes about the interplay between God’s role and ours in our transformation. Romans 12:2 NLT says, “...let God transform you into a new person”. What a relief to know that our transformation is ultimately God’s job and not ours! But then there is this second phrase; “…by changing the way you think”, which implies that we have a role in this transformation process as well.
For me, my automatic and instinctive thought process is to linger on what is missing, what is disappointing, and what went wrong. I must be intentional to do otherwise. This might mean that after a friend’s birthday party, my thoughts will automatically gravitate towards the people I didn’t talk to, the person who didn’t seem interested in what I was saying, the joke I didn’t get at all. I must make an intentional effort to think about the wonderful conversation I did have, the person who did listen, or the time I belly-laughed at someone’s amusing story. What I choose to focus on changes everything. I feel lighter, more grateful, and more grounded.
In the New Year, what if you resolve to be intentional about pulling out of your automatic thought processes that impact your mood? Consider adopting a new practice in the next year that will help you intentionally change the way you think. Here are some ideas:
- ·Adopt a daily practice of gratitude
- ·Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in daily imagining positive outcomes instead of catastrophic or negative outcomes
- ·Practice daily listening prayer, asking for God’s perspective on challenges you face
Each of these practices can be done in 5 minutes and could make a BIG difference in how you feel in the coming year. So, try it! What have you got to lose?
Day 2
Scriptures: Philippians 4:6-9, Colossians 3:1-4, Isaiah 26:1-6
I spent a summer in India when I was in college and I remember speaking with a Christian worker who said, “I use Paul’s list in Philippians 4 to help me focus on what I will and will not spend time thinking about. If it isn’t true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or worthy of praise, I don’t spend very much time thinking about it.” I thought this man was absolutely bananas. It was completely beyond my comprehension to even attempt to direct my thoughts like he suggested. But now, after many years of working in the field of mental and spiritual health, I believe that this wise man had discovered a KEY component to staying encouraged during challenges.
Imagine if, this year, you developed a practice of directing your attention to the categories Paul lists in Philippians 4:8. What if you spent time focused on what is TRUE and actual instead of what is false or imagined? Or how would your attitude be lifted by a journalling session dedicated to noticing what is pure, lovely, and admirable? Or consider for a moment what a small group meeting might be like where members tell each other things that are worthy of praise in their lives.
Now, please hear me, I’m not suggesting you make the New Year one of Pollyannaish positivity. There is most definitely clear instruction in the scriptures to both lament and to grieve. We will not develop as emotionally mature Christians if we live in denial. But the practice of focused attention that Paul suggests here is a Biblical practice that we often fail to utilize because, for so many of us, it is more natural to slide into a spin of fear and doom. Paul’s pastoral encouragement makes him an early forerunner of cognitive therapy. What he suggests is affirmed by modern-day research; the way we think impacts how we feel overall!
What harm could there be in having an increased sense of perspective and hope? Try applying Paul’s formula to some focused thinking time and see what a big difference it can make in your overall encouragement and steadiness.
Day 3
Scripture: Ephesians 4:21-31
Last year, without even realizing it, I slid into a pattern of thinking that some of my work efforts had been pointless because I didn’t see the precise results I was hoping for. When giving a presentation to a group of peers, they gave me feedback on all the ways my efforts had succeeded. In that moment it was as if the scales fell off my eyes. I realized that I had been stuck in a months-long negative thought spiral that was clouding my judgment and causing me BIG discouragement. In fact, I’d given up on a handful of opportunities because my view of my efforts was so clouded.
Verse 23 (NLT) of today’s passage says “…let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.” Let’s pause on this. How would the Spirit want to renew our thoughts and attitudes? The broader context of the verse gives us some clues. If you read the very next verse, we read “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” The passage then moves into some behaviors: to stop telling lies, stop letting anger control you, to quit stealing, and to stop using foul or abusive language. When I consider the thoughts and attitudes that would support us in doing these things, I come up with an empowering list:
·If we allow the Spirit to renew our thoughts about what is true and who we are as children of God, we will not be as tempted to lie.
·If we allow the Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes about others, we will be less tempted to act out in our anger.
·If we allow the Spirit to renew our thoughts towards abundance and God’s provision, we will be less tempted to steal.
·If we allow the Spirit to renew our attitudes about holiness, we will be less tempted to use foul or abusive language.
For me, the Spirit of God renewed my thoughts and attitudes through the voices of my peers. I was able to wake up and see that my thoughts had been negatively skewed, leading me to give up on important projects that held great meaning for me! I dearly hope that next year I will allow the Spirit to renew my thoughts and attitudes more readily.
How do you need the Spirit of God to renew your thoughts and attitudes in the New Year? Have you sensed His voice through important people in your life? What might it look like to listen to and nurture the thoughts and behaviors that are from God throughout the New Year? What behaviors might follow?