Food For The Brain

Scripture:
Proverbs 23:4-7 (NASB)

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;
For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But his heart is not with you.

Devotional:

We have all heard the saying “you are what you eat.”  As a kid I use to envision eating tons of carrots and turning into one.  I pictured myself as a walking carrot.  Thoughts and words are food for the mind.  What we think so we are.  In Proverbs 23 we are cautioned to be wary of who we associate with.  The people around you influence your thoughts.  If you are around negative people eventually it can wear you down to where you are also negative.  If you hang around selfish people you will lean toward selfishness as well.  Have you ever noticed that people tend to congregate around others that are like themselves?  A part if it is that we become more like those around us.

Two thoughts I want to share.  The first one is a child in school.  Growing up we are told to watch out who we hang out with.  Nancy is home-schools our children.  There are several reasons why we have chosen to do so.  One reason is that we want our children to learn in a Christian environment with a huge Christian emphasis.  I have had someone bring up a point about if our kids were in school think of the impact they could have on other students.  The truth of the matter is that the other kids would have a larger impact on our children than they them.  True one person can make a difference.  However, the norm is that one child will succumb to peer pressure. 

The other thought is a time when I was in the Navy.  In the department I was working in the morale was low.  The general atmosphere was pretty gloomy.  After several days of this I woke up one morning and decided I was just going to be in a good mood.  I chose to smile and put on a cheerful front.  The change became infectious within our department.  The change in mood finally actually rooted itself back inside of me.  I didn’t have to put up a front any longer.  Eventually everyone’s mood improved throughout the department.

Watch who you are around and whose council you take.  It will affect how you think.  That in turn will determine who you become.  If you want to change be around those you admire and want to be like.  I have talked to people about not needing to go to church to be saved.  I agree with them that in order to have a relationship with Jesus and be saved I do not have to go to a church.  However, it is in the church that I have fellowship.  It is in the church that I am around fellow believers who can help me to become the person that Christ wants me to be.  In church is where I get the support that I desperately need.  My family and I grow in our relationship with Christ, and one another, more when we are actively involved with a good Bible founded, Scripture teaching, God fearing Church.  Feed your mind with God’s word and see who you become…