Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. How you think always governs how you act. Let's continue the study of Colossians and learn the basics for controlling your thoughts. See, vengeance, rejection, worthlessness, and the whole array of where our mind can wander if we're not careful.
When that happens, how do you respond? In Colossians chapter 3, Paul tells us how to control our thinking, because you see, it's very important what you and I think. In fact, the Bible says and teaches us that you and I are responsible for our actions. Where do our actions come from? Our actions are the results of our thoughts. So whatever we think, ultimately, we're going to act in that light. In fact, the truth is, you and I will always act out the way we see ourselves.
And that is a principle that you cannot escape from. You will act out the way you see yourself. If you see yourself worthless, weak, inadequate, unacceptable, rejected, and a failure, that is exactly the way you're going to live your life.
If you see yourself as somebody worthy of knowing, worthy of loving, worthy of honoring, someone who's capable, someone who's gifted, someone who's loved by God, someone who's loved by others, someone who's talented, someone in whose life God has invested Himself. If you see yourself as successful, more than likely, that's the way you're going to act. You're going to act out the way you see yourself. That's why He said, whatever a man or woman thinks in his or her heart, so are they. That's a principle of life.
Now, all of us at some time in our life or the other may have had difficulty controlling our thoughts. Now, the truth is, this world's not going to change. In fact, it's not going to get better. It's going to get worse. So if you're sitting around waiting and thinking, well, one of these days I'm going to start thinking better and living better when my environment gets better. Your environment's not going to get into better. That is the moral, spiritual environment of this world, according to Scripture, is going to get worse and worse before the Lord Jesus Christ comes. And so we can't wait for the world to change.
And so what we have to ask is this. How is it possible for me to live in a world where I am bombarded with all kinds of sensual, materialistic, secularistic thoughts moment by moment and day by day and still live a life of holiness and righteousness and godliness and obedience before God? How can I control my thinking that in such a fashion that though I live down here, I don't have to think this way? I don't have to be caught up in these thoughts that are destructive and extremely destructive, not only to a person's life, their family, and their future. Well, I believe in the book of Colossians, here is the answer. And I want you to turn, if you will, to this third chapter, and let's read the first two verses.
Now, the title of this message is Controlling Your Thoughts. He begins, If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is there life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Now, there are three essentials, I believe, to being able to control a person's thought life.
One of those is the foundation of all the rest. In fact, the message before this one was entitled Our Position in Christ. Our position in Christ relates to our relationship with Him and His relationship with us, how we relate to Him, how He relates to us. And the Bible says that God says that you and I have been crucified with Christ. That's the first part of our position, which means when Jesus Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, our old sinful life, our old sin nature, what we were before we were saved, was crucified with Him on that cross. God who sees all of life, all of it at one time, saw the death of Jesus at some point in time, your salvation in some point in time.
And so when God sees it, He sees it all at the same time, not limited by time or space. So in the mind of God, when Jesus died, He placed every believer on that cross with Him so that our old sinful nature was crucified with Him. It died with Him so that when you are saved, God affects in your life, brings about the truth in your life, brings to reality in your life, the death of your old sinful nature crucified on the cross with Christ. Then He says, second, our position is that we've been buried with Him. That is, the Bible says that you and I have been placed in such a relationship with Him that it is as if we were buried in Him. That is, we've become a part of Him. And the third aspect of that relationship is He says we have risen with Christ since you have risen with Him. That is, risen to walk in newness of life, risen in resurrection power. He says when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, from God's viewpoint, He raised you and me so that every person who's been saved, the old sinful nature has died. We have been buried in Christ Jesus.
Now we walk in newness of life because we have a new life and a new spirit and a new heart. Not only that, the Bible says that our position is you and I have been hidden away with Him. That is, we are secured in Him. We are secretly, that is, secretly to the world, nourished and edified and built up and strengthened through Him.
We are separated from the rest of the world. We have been secured in Him. Everything about us is different because now we have become a child of the living God. Not only that, He says our position is that as He is seated at the Father's right hand, so He says you and I are seated at the Father's right hand in Him. Now, the Bible says also that when He returns, you and I are going to return with Him so that your position, your relationship to Jesus Christ today is this. You have been crucified with Him, buried in Him, risen with Him, seated with Him.
You are hidden with Him and will one day come again with Him. Now what does all that mean? What does that have to do with controlling my thoughts?
It simply means this. We begin by understanding first of all that Jesus Christ who is living within you, now listen, because Jesus Christ is living within you, because you were crucified with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him, the Bible says you have resurrection power now available and released in you. You and I can no longer tell God, Lord, I couldn't help what I thought. God, I tried to help what I thought. I just couldn't help what I thought.
Now I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. I'm not saying that you can help or always avoid thoughts that Satan sends your way. They may come through other people or they may come directly from Him. It is one thing for a thought to pass by me or in my mind, it's something else for me to grab it, nurture it, think about it and try to glean some sense of gratification or satisfaction out of it. I may not be able to stop the things that come my way, but I don't have to choose them. I don't have to bring them into myself.
I don't have to dwell upon them. Now, that being the case, that is that you are indwelt with the person of Jesus Christ, the power of God is living within you. It is a living, vibrant power accessible to you, released through you. We can control our thinking. If I understand that, then I have the, you see, that is the foundation and the fountain from which everything else God sends into our life comes.
That is our relationship. That is we have an inseparable relationship with Him. We can never be separated from God because He's living on the inside. Now, because He's on the inside and because He is our life, then Paul says, look if you will in chapter 3 verse 1, since then, since what? Since you've been crucified, since you've been buried, since you've been raised, since you've been seated, since you've been hidden, since you're coming again, he says, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Now, the word seek here is not the same word as the word set your mind on.
In some translations in English it is the same, but in the Greek it is not. When he says, seek those things above, it is a present active imperative word which means continuously habitually keep on seeking. That is for the believer it should be the believer's lifestyle that you and I would seek those things that are of God. Now, what in the world is he referring to when he says keep on seeking, that is keep on seeking, keep on discovering the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
What are the things above that he's referring to here? What is referring to those things that God would have to become preeminent in our life? If I should ask you today, what are you living for? That is, what is the object out there that you are living for? What is the one thing in life that you want above everything else? And if God would give you a sheet of paper and say, whatever you write on this paper I'm going to give you, what would be on the top of the list?
What would it be something material or would it be something spiritual? You see my friend, the truth is you and I are to live godly in Christ Jesus, godly in an ungodly world. That isn't something we cannot do, it's something we can't do within ourselves, but it's not something we cannot do because of our relationship with him. Christ is our life. And so our thinking determines our actions. Now, when we set our goal and when we begin to seek those things that are above, that means the priority of our thinking.
That means the obsessions of life. That means the goals and objectives in life that are paramount above all the rest are not earthly but heavenly. For example, we are to seek the will of God for our lives.
Lord, how do you want me to invest my life? We are to seek to know the Lord God. Who is this Christ whom you and I profess?
What is he like? What are his ways? How does he operate in their life? We are to seek the knowledge that comes only from him. We are to seek wisdom that comes only from him. We are to seek to understand him, to know his ways.
Now you say, but now wait a minute. How is it that I can seek these things? Are you telling me that I'm not to put my mind on anything down here, that I'm just to seek something up there?
What about my responsibilities and what about my job and what about the things that I am responsible for in my family and my vocation and all the rest? Does that mean that you're not to ignore all of this? No, but it means what Jesus meant when he said in the Sermon on the Mount, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Now what does he mean by that? In that passage, that verse is couched in this kind of context.
They're talking about food, clothing and shelter. And Jesus was saying, don't worry about these things. Don't focus your attention upon these things.
Don't seek after this. But you seek, set your priority on things above. He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's the rule of Christ in your heart. And his righteousness, that is the character of Christ in your life. He says, you seek that, all these things should be added to you.
So that God understands that you and I have earthly responsibilities, but he doesn't want us seeking earthly applause, earthly gain, that is earthly recognition. Now watch this carefully. All of that may come. You may find yourself wealthy. You may have the world's acclaim.
You may have recognition and all the rest. But if we seek it, it's not of God. If we seek God's righteousness and his character in our life, if we're seeking his will and to know him and to want him, if we're seeking his wisdom and his knowledge and his understanding, if the object of our pursuit is the person of Jesus Christ, then God may make this businessman wealthy.
The truth is he will give you everything you need, much of what you want, if what you're pursuing is not earthly but spiritual. Now the one reason that some people go through life and never get what they want, never have what they think they need is because what they're seeking is wrong. They're seeking things that are earthly. Their mind is down here. Their energies are down here. This is the thing that has consumed them, recognition and whatever the object of their affection. What is it that obsesses them and what are they obsessed by and what controls their motivation, their thinking? Why do you work the way you work and why do you spend the time the way you spend it?
Now let me ask you this. Do you think that a person is seeking the Lord Jesus Christ and seeking the things above who gives little or no thought to the Lord Jesus Christ except at the end of the day in confession of their sin? He says we are to be habitually, continuously, unceasingly seeking the things that are God.
That means that everything in my life in a given day is to be sifted through what? Sifted through a mind that is geared toward and is seeking the will of the Father in every action of my life. That's seeking the Lord. God, what would you have me do in this situation? Lord, how should I respond here? God, what is your will in this?
Lord, how would you have me relate to this person? You see, seeking the mind of God doesn't mean we're so heavenly, we have no earthly good, but while my feet are on the ground, everything gets sifted through a thought process that is geared to and directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the will of the Father in this? What is the mind of God? You see, a person is not controlling their thinking if they're allowing everything around them to govern and guide their thoughts. The believer, because he is and she are indwelt by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can walk through a maze of conflict and confrontation and difficulty and hardship and confusion, frustration and fog with a very clear understanding of what's going on.
Why? Because we have the mind of Christ. And if our mind is directed upon Him, then we're going to be able to perceive and interpret our circumstances and our environment, what? From God's viewpoint, who sees through all the fog and who sees even through the darkness. So when he says, seek those things above, I want to tell you, my friend, you won't seek the things above and ignore the Word of God.
You can't do it. And so as you and I look at the life of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Gospels and the Epistles, when we look at when we look at who Jesus Christ is in his character, his tender heartedness, his kindness, his humility, his loving servant, forgiving attitude and spirit. When we see all of these qualities, what is it that you're not to seek? We have to seek the person of Jesus Christ. Well, you say, is he living on the inside of us?
He is. We have to set our mind on the life and the character of Christ so that we respond to life the way he did. And the only way we're going to be able to respond to life the way he did is to know how he responded. So in the Word, what do we do? When we look in the Word, we picture on our brain. We picture in our mind.
The words become pictures and they're developed in our thinking. And so we get into a similar situation. And so we think the way Jesus thought. And so we act the way Jesus Christ acted. Having set my mind and having determined and made a decision that I'm going to seek the things of God, not the things upon earth, will govern and direct and guide not only your thinking but your life. Now, in a world that is so totally opposite of the heavenly, the spiritual, the holy, the righteous, many believers excuse their sensual, idolatrous, materialistic thinking by saying, I can't help it.
Yes, you can. You can't ever tell God that you as a believer can't help the way you think. You can help the way you think.
Otherwise, he would not have said, seek those things above, where Christ is seated at the Father's right hand now. If you will seek the will of God, God will provide what you need. He will provide much of what you want. And one thing for sure, he will protect you from having something that he knows will absolutely destroy your life. Thank you for listening to Controlling Your Thoughts. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
