Metacognition -Thinking About Thinking
I learned a new word the other day; metacognition, thinking about thinking. I instantly thought, that’s what we need to be doing on a regular basis. Really paying attention to what we are thinking about. Do our thoughts line up with the Word of God, or are we letting the influences of the world get in & color the way we are thinking? I know, we live in the world, so sometimes the thoughts and attitudes of those around us tend to rub off & it’s easy to start agreeing with the worlds’ way of thinking. But that’s why God’s Word says that we need to renew our minds. (Romans 12:2) It’s not something that comes naturally. We need to make a concerted effort to get into the Word, so that the Word will get into us.
The Word gives us lots of instruction about how we should be thinking
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Matthew 6:25, 32 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on… (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Especially in these tough economic times, the world has a tendency to worry…a lot. But, if we know what the Word says, we’ll know that we have no reason at all to worry. God has only the best plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and will keep us protected from the world around us.
How we replace negative thoughts
So what do we replace all those negative thoughts with? Again, we can turn to the Word: Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.