{ Repost: Think On Purpose - J. Meyer }

"And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude]."
—Ephesians 4:23

A real breakthrough came for me in my love walk when I realized that love was something I needed to do on purpose. I could not wait to feel loving; I had to choose to be loving. The same rule applies to our thoughts. We must learn to think good thoughts about people on purpose.

We must learn to look for the good, not the bad, in everyone. We all have faults and weaknesses, but we all also have good qualities. I admit that we must look harder to find the good in some people than in others, but to be like Jesus, that is what we must do.

Jesus finds the good in everyone and magnifies that instead of the bad. He found the good in me and started developing it until it finally surpassed a lot of the things that were wrong with me. He has done the same thing for many of us, and He expects us to do the same for people we encounter every day.

Take a moment and try this experiment. Just sit and think some good thoughts on purpose about someone you know, and see how much better you feel about yourself. If you keep it up, you will begin to notice changes in that person’s attitude toward you. One reason that individual will change is that you will have changed.

Thinking good thoughts opens the door for God to work. If we want the Lord’s good plan to manifest in our lives, we must get into agreement with Him (Amos 3:3). He is not negative in any way, and according to the Bible, we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)—but we must choose to use it.

We also have a mind of the flesh, and I often feel it is like the earth’s gravitational pull; if we don’t resist, we are pulled in its direction. Because of humanity’s sinful nature, our thoughts will automatically go in a negative direction unless we direct them otherwise.

Love Others Today: Choose to think good thoughts today–even if you don’t feel like it.