Bible References: Proverbs 3:5-6; Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25; Deuteronomy 31:6; Psalm 37:4; Romans 10:9-10
Our beliefs drive our decisions, which lead to our outcomes, our results. This week’s sermon asked, where do our beliefs come from? We focused on three types of beliefs:
Taught: instructed by someone how to do it
Caught: saw modeled by others
Bought: came from experience and most of the time it was a painful lesson to learn
A bought belief will overshadow a taught and caught belief because bought beliefs are in the heart forged from life’s experiences. When we continue to make decisions that do not give us the outcome we are wanting, it can be traced to a deep bought belief stored within our hearts, whether we are aware of it or not it can be seen in our actions. It is the state of our heart that makes the difference in our walk with Christ. These heart memories can distort our view of God. If we feel like failures then our view of the world will be harsh and cruel. If we see success then we see the world as our oyster; if we are desperate we will make rash decisions. The general decision of our lives will be from the outflow of what we bought in our hearts about who God is and who we are as people. A bought belief can prevent us from “re-believing”.
To break the cycle we have to move the bought beliefs out of our heart. Meditation is a way of getting God’s word into our heart thereby allowing us to trust Him. Meditation is more than reading scripture and memorizing verses it uses emotion and intellect to create an experience and memory within our heart. Meditation becomes a real experience in our mind, it then creates an experience in our heart which can become a deep bought belief. This shift in perspective requires a change of heart, a recognition that we must lean on God for our understanding. Walking in God’s ways requires the knowledge of his word; a heart knowledge (Romans 10:9-10).