I grew up hearing people say, “You are what you eat.” The originator of this famous adage was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French food commentator. An even better saying would be, You are what you think. I might even propose that you try thinking before eating and it will make a difference in your mid-section.
As a house is built on bricks, so a person’s mind is built on thoughts. The various actions one completes are built on a compound of thoughts one thinks. It is what the Bible means when we read, “As a man thinketh, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7). Our lives are built up or torn down by the quality of our thoughts.
Character is built in much the same way as a house is built. Like a house, built brick by brick, so our character is built thought by thought. It is the combination of bricks that make a beautiful house, and it is the combination of thoughts that make a beautiful character.
We moved to our current home in 1998. The house we moved into was built in 1962. It needed a lot of restoration for it to remain inhabitable. Over the years, we have remodeled that house three times. We had to tear out some parts and rebuild other parts. We added new more stable bricks, wood, and steel.
Every person is a mind-builder, whether we recognize it or not. Every thought is a brick we build our life around. When we think a thought, we are bricklaying our life. When we build with the old material we’ve always used, the result is predictable.
But, if we want to restore our lives, we need to build our thoughts with stable lasting material. We must look for the best material given to humankind. Pure thoughts, wholesome thoughts, and noble thoughts build a pure, wholesome, and noble life. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “Whatever things are true…just…pure…lovely…good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
What kind of character are you building? What kind of life are you building? Remodel your thinking with God’s truth and His love. Think on such thoughts and you will remodel your character, life, and build a beautiful, majestic future.
Pastor Steve