Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.
Much to the relief of many of us, society is starting to recognize and talk about mental health. For so long health from a mental standpoint was hushed, not to be spoken of. Honestly, I do not think society knew what to do with it. It is not an easily diagnosed disease so how could it be real, it’s just in your mind. At least that is what so many people suffering with mental health were told.
Struggling with a mental disease has been around since biblical times, it is not new. So why is it so prevalent now? To begin, we live in a fallen world. Disease is part of that fallen world. But it doesn’t stop there. How we respond to the fallen world can play into the health of our minds.
What are we filling our minds with twenty-four hours a day? The news, social media, or influencers? Are we filled with worry, contempt, or fear? If so, we are allowing ourselves to become a victim of the fallen world. We are letting the thoughts of others dictate the health of our minds and if not corrected, we can spiral into anxiety and depression. We are left without hope that anything will ever get better. But because Jesus gave up His life for us, we do have hope, even in a fallen world.
In order to have that hope, we must focus our thoughts on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. We must focus our thoughts on God. So, how do we tangibly do that? We have to train our minds to replace harmful input with the things of God. To do that we look at how Jesus lived? A life of service, helping the weak, serving others, loving all, and most importantly being in continual communication with God. His entire life on earth was an example for us to follow – make a conscious choice to follow Him.
