Yesterday was a booming day for my business.  It created a bustling day at the depot of my crazy thoughts.  And today I ponder Peter’s words of wisdom and his purposefully expressed intentions:

I have written them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.                                                                                               2 Peter 3:1

Peter, by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was compelled to contribute to this great Word two whole books that were written for the very purpose of helping me to control my thought life.

I should probably pay attention.

Much like the power of the tongue, the power of the voices is our heads are far greater than we give them credit for.  They tend to shape my day.  They take me from peaceful to frantic.  They take me from elated to exhausted.  They take me from encouraged to discouraged like some cruel hijacker stealing the controls right out of my hands.  They control so much of my day and my perspective and my attitudes and expectations and, therefore, the condition of my heart and my life.

Just as we can will our bodies to pass by the stocked fridge or hop on to the treadmill, we must will our minds to do and not do certain edifying or detrimental things.  It is an art and an exercise that must be trained, practiced, purposefully expanded upon.  Without willful intent, our thoughts will be constantly hijacked by list making, to-do’s, planning, stress management, negativism, what-if conversations (many of which we’ve perfected over years of mental trial and error), negative self-chatter, anything ranging from the normal day-to-day scheduling to extreme stress or depressive negativity.  Given the freedom to rule the roost, our thought-filled minds can surely produce some bad eggs.

How then does one exercise wholesome thinking?  Peter seemed to have something to say about that, what might he suggest?  He preceded this verse by recapping events of old, varied characters and situations and how God had intervened in history.  He implored his readers to listen to the prophets, and to take to heart the (as in one single) command of Christ, and he warned against schisters who might put their own commands up there with our Kings.  He talked about holy living, being content with your lot and position, and never being satisfied to sit still in your soul.

What then is wholesome thinking, this lofty aim that the Rock on which Christ chose to build his church attempted to stimulate us toward?

Wholesome thinking promotes peace, within and without.  Wholesome thinking leads to ideas on how to better love on others.  Wholesome thinking fosters humility, taking ones eyes off of ourselves.  Wholesome thinking leads to godly acting; it bears fruit, makes waves, leaves some sign of its having been there. Wholesome thinking lets Scripture bumble around in one’s mind like Bingo balls in a tumbler.  Wholesome thinking dismisses and dispels that which is not true, lovely, noble, right, and excellent.  Wholesome thinking puts the brakes on runaway trains of thought.  Wholesome thinking remembers.  Wholesome thinking helps to narrow the focus, clarify the purpose, eternalize the perspective. Wholesome thinking is grand-scale, it doesn’t get lost or taken captive by the mundane, petty or insignificant.  Wholesome thinking promotes proper perspective –letting the temporal fall away and the eternal rise victorious.

Without good brakes, this train will run away.

Without purposeful intent, Peter will have guided us in vain and wholesome thinking will sit on the shelf of unused treasures as my life plays captive to the thoughts that scream the loudest.