Wednesdays in the Word: The Mind and Romance

I am enjoying sharing what the Lord is teaching me through this "Marriage Without Regrets" study by Kay Arthur. I have been strengthened through the truths in God's Word and desire to encourage others to also be strengthened and transformed in their marriages and other relationships.

This week, I have been studying how to love your mate (or your family members, friends, relationships, etc), specifically in your thought life.   Last week I discussed how the tongue and heart were linked together: basically how your tongue reflects what is in your heart. This week, the study went a step further and focused on both the heart and the mind as affecting our attitudes with our loved ones. 

One aspect that I found to be encouraging was studying some verses on God's thoughts and attitudes towards us.  When I think about the following list, it helps me to realize that I should be loving my mate with the same kinds of attitudes and mind-set.  Should my thoughts contradict the thoughts of God?  God can give me the power to change my mind-set to be like his..........this is His mind-set:

*God wants to prosper us and not harm us and He wants to give us a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11)
*God selflessly loved us by giving up His own son and He graciously gives us all things.  He is interceding for us.  He makes us to be more than conquerors! We cannot be separated from His love(Romans 8:31-39)
* God's thoughts are precious to us (Psalm 139:17-18)

My favorite passage from this study came from 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. The whole passage is excellent to read for context, but I was struck by the part about how "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  EVERY thought.  We have a power that is outside this world.  We don't have to wage war the way the world does...........we can take our thoughts and line them up with God's thoughts.  That means all the negative and destructive thoughts that come our way during the course of a day........how many times have these little negative thoughts completely destroyed a whole evening or a whole week with your spouse? (or even longer)  How many of these negative thoughts have built up unneccesary anger and frustration?  How many times do I dwell on one negative thing about my spouse or my children, instead of casting my thoughts toward Christ and having a thankful heart for all the many positive aspects about them?  This is true romance; to be thinking the best and most praiseworthy things about my husband.  To think about that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Phillipians 4:8) is what will bring deep and lasting romance to our marriage. To love my husband unconditionally, I need to focus on positive thoughts.  I can't have those honeycomb words (that I discussed a couple of weeks ago), unless my mind and heart are in the right place.  I have been thinking long and hard this week about my thought life, and I am thankful for these truths God is revealing to me, especially in this area of negativity.  What is your thought life about your spouse, children, or important people in your life?
 
Above all, I really liked how God used this study to reveal to me a biblical way to love and have romance with my husband.  It is not just about the actions that we do (and I know the actions can be important and have lots of meaning).....but it is about our hearts and our minds.  We need to continually cast down the negative thoughts and "take captive EVERY thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) This will bring about romance that has action and unconditional love.