Avoid Ruminating

God greatly cares about our mental state, as He tells us in the Bible, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). To honor this beautiful passage, we must be aware of a particular mental foe—rumination. Surprisingly known as the number one symptom of depression, rumination “involves repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings, distress, & their causes & consequences” (psychiatry.org). To ruminate is to fixate upon what’s wrong & then to reinforce those feelings by talking about our problems. Think of rumination as a self-imposed hamster’s wheel of brooding on personal hurts & grievances. To put it mildly: ruminating does not help us “rejoice always” (1 Thess 5:16)! So, what do we do about our propensity to brood?

The problem with ruminating is that we become preoccupied with ourselves—our feelings, our circumstances, our issues. To stop this harmful pattern of thinking, the key is to point our thoughts away from the unholy trinity of me, myself, & I. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 4:3, “I do not even judge myself.” This means that Paul wasn’t preoccupied with thinking about himself. His main concern wasn’t how he felt. Rather, he was preoccupied with Christ, others, and the expanse of the gospel.

Maybe we shouldn’t fixate on the question, “How am I feeling today?” Perhaps, obsession with the question is what leads so many to feel miserable. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, better questions to focus on include: “How can I glorify Christ?” “How are other people doing?” “What can I do to help others see the beauty of Christ?” Diverting our feelings away from our feelings greatly helps us avoid ruminating.

Pastor Chance Sumner