Motivation Quotation: “Our everyday thinking is a form of self-hypnosis. Each time we repeat a word or thought we are sending our subconscious a blueprint to work from.” –Joyce Duco

Commentary: Do you like the way you have hypnotized yourself over the years of your life? Are you pleased with all of your emotions, your beliefs, and your behaviors? Do you feel a need to distract or medicate yourself so that you don’t feel so much inner pain?

Then there is tremendous hope for you in this week’s motivation quotation. Your emotions, beliefs, and behaviors are the results of your own thinking. If you don’t like them, you have the power to change them. Isn’t that wonderful news?

We all already know how to hypnotize ourselves. We have done it all our life. All we need to do is to change the direction of all that self-hypnosis. Instead of hypnotizing ourselves for pain and misery by thinking and visualizing negativity, we can begin to hypnotize ourselves for joy and pleasure by continually thinking and visualizing what is good about our life, our family, our job, our city, our world.

Now I admit that it isn’t easy to change your pattern of self-hypnosis. But that is no reason to give in to negativity and misery. It isn’t easy to do laundry, but we do it anyway.

So today, why not clean your thinking just like you clean your clothes? Throw your ”stinkin thinkin” into a tub and don’t let it out until it is clean!

Here is a modern formula for futility. It is pushed on us nowadays. Our kids are brainwashed with it in public schools -- "nothing plus time equals everything." But doesn't that formula leave life empty?

Something in human beings longs to be inspired — to believe in high ideals, to experience meaning and purpose in life. World literature is full of stories of the human quest for noble causes; the struggle to overcome evil and establish mercy, love, and justice; and the willingness to sacrifice and endure pain for the good of others. The inner sense that there is more to human life than a mere body that dies has filled people with hope and caused people to seek better lives for themselves and others, both here and hereafter.

But if we are nothing but a cosmic accident — an unplanned blob of blood, brains, and bones — does anything about our lives really matter? Hasn’t the modern view of human origin pulled the plug from our higher purpose and passion for life?

It sure seems like today people are disposable. Gunmen shoot them down. Doctors suck them out of their mothers womb in pieces. The elderly are warehoused. Those who can’t or won’t “make it” are mainly shoved aside, ignored or taken advantage of.

Personally, I like the ancient formula much better. “And God created man in His own image.”

Wow. Don't we know a lot of stuff today? Our society is hyper-informed. We've got the buzz and we can spout out the facts and figures. Through computers we have access to so much information at our finger tips. Go ahead. Google something, anything. And just see how much information comes up. Perhaps we are over informed.

So? What are we as individuals and as a society doing with all our information? We accumulate it and store it and discuss it and pass it on to others. But do we really apply what we know.

For example. Everybody reading this knows enough to make their life happier and more peaceful. But do we apply that knowledge? Not much. Why?

We are under inspired. We've got plenty of knowledge but we lack the inner fire to put that knowledge to work in our daily lives. We lack motivation. We lack vision and hope. We lack passion. We lack zeal. So we talk about and sort out information while we wallow in frustration, discouragement, anxiety, guilt, anger, bitterness, and many other negative emotions.

Maybe we should pick a simple idea or technique that we already know in our mind and begin to actually apply it in our lifestyle. Until we begin to live what we know, no benefit will come from our knowing.

Get excited about changing and improving your life. Get fired up. Work like heck to make things better. Get aggressive. Go for self-improvement the way an athlete trains for the Olympics. If you will put your treasure of time, effort, and money into improving your life every day -- soon you will begin to feel inspired.

So many people claim to be Christians in America. Yet Christians and Christianity have almost no influence in our contemporary culture. Why is that?

Some folks say that the culture is so far gone down the path of self-destruction and rebellion that it can't be brought back. Don't believe that! God specializes in turning people and societies around and bringing them back to Himself and His righteousness.

The only thing is, even God needs human instruments. Every spiritual awakening in the Bible and in church history has required human instruments. A few people had to be willing to seek God with all their heart and obey Him with courage and abandon.

But today it seems that Christianity has turned into Wimpianity. Genuine Christianity is bold, muscular, and aggressive. It speaks the truth in love and changes society.

Wimpianity is focused on entertainment, Sunday go to meeting, promoting people and personalities rather than Christ, raising money, building monuments, and hiding from our culture. It will never change society.

The Bible says that men will have a form of godliness but deny its power. It tells us to turn away from that type of powerless religion -- wimpy religion that doesn't have the power to change people's lifestyles.

So why don't we obey the Bible? Let's turn away from Wimpianity and embrace the lifestyle of bold, muscular, New Testament Christianity!

As prenatal testing improves we will have a greater ability to make abortion systematic instead of random. Some people are already aborting the unborn who have a genetic tendency toward certain diseases. This should save untold millions of dollars in future health care costs.

What if we aborted those who have a criminal gene? We could all leave our doors unlocked in the future!

What if we chose to abort all the unborn who have a gene for addiction to alcohol or drugs? That would put AA out of business and greatly reduce DUI’s.

What if we aborted those with a homosexual gene? Then there would be no need for a “Marriage Amendment”?

What if we aborted every unborn baby with an ugly gene? Then our population would look so much better — if there was anybody left.

When you look at abortion systematically instead of randomly, doesn’t it sound cruel?