Most of us have heard the statement, or even said it, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

I know I have even said it to myself from time to time. I have been thinking (pun intended) just what that means.

Obviously, when someone uses that phrase in a question to you, it means you did something completely out of your character that surprised the person you were talking to.

Many years ago, when I was talking with my mentor, we discussed the topic of thinking. He explained that your mind is like a movie film. When a movie film plays, it shows quick picture frames in succession so that you don’t see individual frames. Your mind records everything you see and hear and stores it in memory for you to recall later.

When we think, we can only recall one frame at a time. Our mind will quickly run like a movie until it finds that memory and recalls it for you to remember. This is where the phrase comes from: “What goes into your mind comes out of your mouth or actions.”

What and how we think is going to show through our attitude and/or speech. Yesterday’s blog was about attitude. How we think will have a direct effect on what attitude we display.

Most people don’t realize this because we learn it without knowing we learned it. We have to be taught to think.

When we are babies, we are taught how to walk and talk. We (or most) are taught at least some manners, we are taught to act a certain way (good or bad), and we are taught that there are penalties to pay if we act wrongly. But no one really has taught us to think.

When you’re brought up in a Christian or law-abiding home, it’s natural that you learn to always think about right and wrong, but what if you were brought up in a home where right and wrong have no definition? Where right and wrong are so gray that you have no moral compass?

Growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, you could see the line between right and wrong. Today, that line is almost invisible. Society is doing things now that were taboo or not even conceived of back then.

For instance, divorce. Yes, it happened back then, but it was something to be ashamed of and was not talked about in public. Abortion: It was not even a consideration in the ’60s or was completely illegal. Today, society has Planned Parenthood, which encourages the killing of unborn children.

These are just a few of many hundreds of things that society has accepted, making right and wrong almost invisible.

Keeping our minds and our thoughts pure in today’s world is a full-time job. There are so many different and subtle ways that bad or unhelpful thoughts can enter, which will alter our way of thinking.

The Bible gives us guidance on how to think. Our loving God already knew what we were going to face, so He gave us a guide to use. Let’s take a look at what God says about how to think.

Philippians 4:8-9 (KJV): “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

God gave us a roadmap and a choice regarding which road to travel on.

The road I’m on is much less traveled. I know I am far from being who my God wants me to be, but God also knows my heart, my thoughts, and my intentions.

All God is asking of me is to follow Him. Salvation plus nothing. No gimmick, no switch and bait. NOTHING.

Center your life around Christ, and He will guide you the rest of the way.