MY OWN WORST ENEMY

Have you seen the TV drama “My Own Worst Enemy? Even if you haven’t seen it yet I am sure you get the idea just from the title.

I don’t know about you…but I cause myself more problems than any body else. Perhaps you have heard the expression, “open mouth, insert foot”. Well that’s not just a problem with George W. Bush.

The Bible is very clear about our responsibility for our thought life. The book of Ephesians chapter 4 and 5 explains the war that is going on inside each of us. It is a war between the old self,( self is the boss) the nature we were born with and the new self, ( love is the boss)the nature God gives us at the time of our spiritual birth. This war takes place in our mind, and specifically our attitude. One of the amazing things about attitude is that no one can take your attitude away from you. No matter what the circumstance of life, you get to choose your attitude.

Your attitude is your responsibility and God’s word makes it clear that we will be held accountable for our attitude. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we read that we are to”… demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. ( act only from a position of love)

We become what we believe. We behave in accordance with what we believe. If we want to be different we must believe different, and that process begins with our thought life and the discipline of our attitude to make sure every thought aligns with how Christ would think. The reason Jesus Christ is our highest example is because he never thought or did anything that was not from a position of love. This is the basis of the famous Sermon On the Mount in the book of Matthew.

Our actions and attitudes will be a direct reflection of what we feed our minds. If we feed our minds God’s word and discipline our attitude to conform to that word we will behave accordingly. If we feed on the words of the world’s system, we can not help but reflect that system in our attitudes and action. We are what we feed our mind.

This story says it all.

An old Cherokee chief is teaching his grandson about life:
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.
"One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.
"The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope,
serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."

Which nature do you feed the most? The nature of self,me mine,my way OR the nature of love,others,generosity,you first.

Until we each learn to function from a position of love in our beliefs, thoughts and actions, the world will continue to be at war, neighbours will continue to fight, marriages will continue to fall apart.

What kind of world are you contributing too?