Drugs, Alcohol, Television, Rock & Roll. Those were THE FOUR ways the previous generation believed you wasted your brain. 50% of them are debatable.
Here are four sure-fire ways to waste the 2500 thoughts you will have each and every day:
1. Think about what COULD have been.
Spend time obsessing over a bad decision that hindsight makes clear was the wrong choice. Think about that instead of seeing where you are now and what you need to choose NOW to make better decisions going forward. Here’s a quick tip to make better decisions. If choosing that way in the past made a mess, I guarantee, choosing that way today won’t be any better. Someone once said, “First we make our choices, then our choices make us.”
2. Think about what SHOULD have been.
These are the nagging thoughts of the “almost” moments in life. If I had just waited a little longer to buy a house… If I had only held out for more money… If only I hadn’t blown out my knee in high school… If I had come to Christ sooner… Etc, etc… Again, you can’t change it, so why worry about it. You are where you are for a reason by the divine sovereign will of the GOD who loves you. The past is in the past. Focus not on what should have been, but what SHOULD BE NOW. “Today if you hear His voice…” obey!
3. Think about what you will do WHEN…
These are thoughts of future actions based on conditions you have presupposed need to be perfect for you to move. Like: “We will get married when we know we can afford it.” (never gonna happen) Or, “I will get committed to the church as soon as I’m in my 30s.” Or “When the kids are grown, we will spend more time together.” Thoughts like these keep us paused in life. You may be waiting for the perfect conditions in which to act on a certain area of life. Forget it. Many times those conditions will never be met. ACT NOW! ACT QUICKLY! TAKE A STEP OF FAITH. Read Ecclesiastes 11:4 for how perfect conditions work out… then go plant a tree.
4. Think about what could NEVER be.
This is the language of the devil himself. “I’ll never get married.” “I’ll never have a family.” “I’ll never find a job.” “I’m just not able to beat this temptation.” “I’ll never…” Those phrases hang on the walls of Satan’s office and his army floods our minds with them continually. Do you know why? Because those thoughts are the fastest way to get us to compromise for the immediate rather than sacrifice for the ultimate.
Jesus won this battle for us at the Cross. In the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, Satan offered the kingdoms of the world without the Cross. Jesus refused the immediate and now sits enthroned at the right hand side of God the Father as the ultimate. Whatever has you thinking NEVER will be needs to be FOREVER rejected. With God all things are possible. Say that out loud right now. Do it, it will make you feel better.
These four thoughts are the root problem for many people paused in life and hesitant of the future. Reject them. Reject them in the NAME of JESUS. And by FAITH embrace God’s best for you today.
Wasted Brain
Philippians 3:13-14 But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
