Mental Discipline

Over the last few posts, I have been giving thoughts on spiritual and physical discipline.  Hopefully I've been able to show how these disciplines are interrelated to one another and how they affect each other.  Believe me, much more could be said on each of them.

However, there are also other kinds of discipline which we could make use of in our life.  The next one deals with the way we think.  In particular, I am intrigued by a couple of Bible verses on this matter.

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."  2 Corinthians 10:5

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts."  Psalm 139:23

Does God care about how I think about things?  Based upon these two verses, the answer clearly seems to be a resounding "Yes!"  The way we approach our thinking tells a lot about us.

Now, here is where I have to admit to one of my pet peeves.  I really, really, really dislike what I call "sloppy thinking."  I realize that this covers quite a bit of ground, so perhaps I should first explain what I mean.

Have you ever talked with someone whose thoughts seemed to flit from one topic to the next with no pattern whatsoever?  I think of this as A.D.D. of the mind.  To me, it seems that such a person isn't disciplined in how they think.  They just go with whatever pops into their heads, regardless of if it fits the conversation or not.

I also have to admit that I really have a hard time when people say they believe something, but don't really know why they believe, or haven't thought through what they believe.  To me, that demonstrates a laziness in terms of thinking.  I really enjoy the give and take of someone who has clearly thought about the topic, even if they strongly disagree with me.

Perhaps in writing out these pet peeves of mine, you start to see what I mean when I speak of the discipline of the mind.  Tomorrow I'll write a bit more about what this really is, and how it ties in with our spiritual and physical discipline.