Dwell on Truth

  Ever made up your mind about someone so clearly that you interpret all their actions through your pre-conceived notion of who they are?  If you decide that person is selfish, then even when he tries to be nice, you interpret his actions as self-serving.  He can't win, regardless of what he does, unless you are transformed by the renewing of your mind.
   Sometimes we do this with our children.  We label them.  i.e. "Johnny is a strong-willed child, therefore when Johnny is disobeying he is just expressing his strong willed nature, not truly defying authority.  And I need to let him express himself, or he will become more difficult." If we allow Johnny to be labeled, then he is no longer required to live up to the standards that normal children are held to.  And once Johnny knows that, I guarantee he will live up to your every expectation.  Sometimes we need to renew our mind with the truth.  Johnny has a sin nature, and will take every opportunity he can to serve himself, unless he  is trained to do otherwise; to look out for the needs of others before his own.  He will not naturally bend in that direction, but like a young shoot, he will need to be trained in the way he should grow.  And the consistency of his trainer will make all the difference.  If his trainer believes that Johnny can be just as obedient and respectful as any other child, without labeling him, then Johnny will most likely live up to those expectations.
   We not only do this with our children, but we women do this to ourselves as well.  We choose to dwell on our emotions rather than the truth of God's Word as the guide to our world view.  We don't always feel lovable, so therefore God and others probably don't love us, nor do we deserve their love.  Maybe we think that our circumstances show God's love for us.  If things are going well, we are blessed and loved, if things are hard, we are cursed and abandoned by God.  Nothing could be farther than the truth God reveals to us in scripture.  We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
—EPHESIANS 3:17-19
 Nowhere in the above passage does it describe your performance as the mandate to God's love for you. In fact, if truth be known, if you are His, and trust him alone for your salvation, He promises:
"The Lord your God is with you...he will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
—ZEPHANIAH 3:17
 Now that is truth, and it is how God views those who are His.  And, we will only feel that truth when we choose to believe it and view God's actions in our life through that truth.  So how do we become transformed by the renewing of our mind?  When we begin to realize we are believing a lie, we need to stop that thought, and replace it with the combating Truth from the scriptures.  If we make a habit of replacing lies with Truth, then in time, the emotions will follow the shifting of our minds.
  Every relationship in our life is greatly effected by the world view we have toward it.  If we make a habit of dwelling on truth, we allow people the room they need to change and better themselves...and we allow ourselves the grace we need to grow in love as well.