How often we suffer needlessly because we automatically accept our random thoughts – or others’ – as absolute truth. We must learn to distinguish our inmost self and affirm our freedom to decide apart from thoughts that pass through our head, often fed to us by the evil one or by those who – unwittingly or not – have become his pawns. Moreover, we must evaluate all things in the light of Christ.
Things to consider in obtaining your complete spiritual freedom:
If you believe in the revelation of God as given by Christ – the Way, the Truth and the Life – then that is your primary basis for evaluating all truth.
Realize your will is one of the most precious and powerful gifts God has given you and is quite separate from random or automatic thinking.
Forgive yourself and others – and seek theirs and God’s forgiveness for your offenses – so that guilt might not be used as a weapon against you when “self-accusations” start to arise.
Many times, thoughts are slyly and subtly introduced into our minds – especially by evil forces or people bent on destroying us – and we often do not question where they came from and accept them at face value as our own.
Another way of putting it is, not every thought is Gospel or valid just because it’s in our head. Again, many times it’s not our original thinking, but a suggestion from outside that has wormed its way into our psyche.
Remember Jesus’ parable of the farmer who woke up one morning and found his fields sown with all kinds of weeds and parasites because of the wicked deeds of his enemy. We must realize we are caught up in the battle betwen good and evil, and we all suffer because of it.
A thought is not ours until we assent to it or accept it. You – your will – has the final say. Not even God will violate our freedom to think and be as we choose. Desired outcomes and negative consequences are another matter.
We can challenge or talk back to our thoughts just like we talk back to others when we disagree with them.
We must be careful to separate the literal words spoken aloud – or silently – from the emotional or hidden subtext, which often is the real message being delivered and what we react to. The subtext can be like a software virus that’s slips by unnoticed initially, but later wreaks havoc. Once lodged, it creates automatic triggers that lead to self-destruction unless found and rooted out. Advertisers and propagandists use this concept well to induce desired behaviors.
A more direct assault is manipulation through lies and the withholding of vital information. Language was meant to communicate truth. We see how severe the repercussions are when we ignore any one of the Ten Commandents.
Hard-to-accept truth about ourselves or others must be carefully measured out in the right doses – a little at a time or with a two-by-four, depending on the person’s frame of mind and receptivity.
To provide the proper basis for evaluation of what’s going on in our minds, we must go back to the source of truth, to the Word of God – Jesus – and see what He has to say. Truth is truth, even if we deny it, and it alone can provide the foundation for establishing true equilibrium and sanity.
So, we must not allow ourselves to be slaves to our thoughts, thoughts that often ambush us, as opposed to well considered ideas, principles, values, virtues and the laws of God and nature. Nor should we automatically accept without question and deliberation the thoughts and words of others who sometimes have only their own agendas in mind. Again, we should deliberate and measure all things against the truth we know in our consciences and that has been handed down unchanged since uttered by Christ.
When evaluating the comments of others about ourselves, we must discern whether they have our true interests and eternal welfare at heart. The true mark of someone’s love for us is the willingness to sacrifice for us and to respect our freedom to make final decisions. Admittedly, even that can be difficult because those who really do love us often express it poorly out of exaggerated fear or over-zealousness.
Even with well established values, we ought to consider and examine them closely and then freely and deliberately assent with our wills, not by impulse. Otherwise, our “commitment” will be short-lived. On the other hand, we must not dilly dally in committing to a good lest the opportunity pass us by. And, if we choose against what is loving and good for our true well being, we will have to bear the consequences of negation, disorder and disease.
All choices have their consequences – good or bad – which is why we ought to choose responsibly.
While we have free will, no one is exempt from the repercussions of choice. All are subject to the laws that regulate our universe: physical laws that govern the material world and moral and psychological laws that govern the order and harmony of our souls and minds.
That it why we would do well to bring all our thoughts into obedience to Christ, through whom all things were created, and who so ordered creation in all its beauty out of love.
… for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh …. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ …. (2 Cor 10:4-5 NAB)