| JOY Blog |
Have you ever felt a pain in your arm, leg, or other part of your body, and you automatically begin thinking the worst? Does your mind begin to drift and, before you know it, you have a whole movie playing out in your head? You imagine the doctor announcing you have incurable cancer. You begin planning your funeral in your head, wondering how your family will manage to go on without you.
Part of the reason we get carried away with our thoughts is because God has given each of us an imagination. Imagination is good when it propels creativity and gives us dreams and visions about our future. But imagination can be bad when we allow the worst case scenarios to completely take over.
Other variations on this kind of unhealthy thinking include pondering how your life might be better if your circumstances were different, or wondering if the grass really was greener on the other side.
A few examples of this type of thinking might include:
- “If only I had finished college I would have a better job, and then my life would be so much better.”
- “When I lose 50 pounds I’ll finally be able to feel good about myself.”
- “I’ll never be able to overcome this illness (or habit, or _____. I’m sure you can fill in the blank!)
When we mull over worst case scenarios or brood over present circumstances, we end up with bad movies playing out in our minds.
The dangers of thinking this way
While thinking like this every once in a while certainly isn’t wrong – after all, it is good to be introspective at times -- it can become a problem when it becomes a habit. If you find yourself lacking contentment, joy, and peace, or if you have a victim mentality, your way of thinking might have something to do with it.
Worse than becoming a bad habit, entertaining pessimistic thoughts can cause separation from God. Separation happens when we aren’t obedient to God’s Word, so it’s important to know what the Bible says about how we should conduct our thought life:
- “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 )
- “Cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)
- "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2)
Think the best instead of the worst
The next time you start imagining worst case scenarios in your head, try thinking about the best case scenario instead. As my husband once said, “Good movies deliver hope." So make a movie in your mind that produces faith and hope instead of fear and defeat.
That's a movie worth watching.
What kind of “movies” do you have playing inside your head? Are they good ones or bad ones? Does your way of thinking cause you to feel like a victim or a victor?
Cari Bousfield is a freelance writer and blogger. Besides blogging for JOY, Cari blogs at Faith's Mom's Blog and writes on a variety of articles at HubPages. She is also the author of Having Faith. Cari has a strong desire to help people connect with one another and to God. She prays that through her writing, she can reach the hearts of others and help to bring hope, inspiration and courage to "walk by faith not by sight". See all JOY Blog posts by Cari.
Visitor Comments (0)
