Thinking Right

During the mango season, black bugs will be inside some of the fruit in the mango variety called Neelam.  How do they get in when the fruit looks perfect from the outside?  As you may know, the larvae of fruit flies and other insects do not eat their way into the fruit from the outside.  Rather, the insect lays the egg in the blossom itself and the fruit grows around it. Sometime later, the worm hatches inside the fruit and eats its way out! 

Sin works just like that! 

It begins in the human heart and, if unchecked, works its way out in thoughts, words, and deeds.  Our thoughts affect not only our choices but also our relationships.  Eve saw and thought that the forbidden fruit was good for food.  David saw Bathsheba and thought she was desirable.  We all know how these thoughts translated into actions!  Proverbs 23:7 says a person is as he thinks in his heart.

The devil and the world plant evil ideas, and quick, vigorous action is required to root them out completely.  It requires a deep desire for holiness and a healthy fear of God!  Sometimes, negative thoughts about our predicament and problems fill our hearts and minds.  We tend to forget that the God we worship is greater than all our problems. 

That is why Paul advices us to be careful about what occupies our thought life.  Our thoughts may be hidden from our friends and family, but nothing is hidden from the Lord.  

Instead of thinking about the things that trouble us or those that would lead us away from the Lord,  Paul suggests that we should think about “… whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

We have to be the kind of believers eager to hear God’s Word, study God’s Word for ourselves, and practice the truths of God’s Word in our own lives.  When we do this every day, we will recognize wrong thinking and know what to do about it.

My friend, we need to think right, and right thinking requires discipline and effort.  May the Lord help us take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I pray that my thought-life will be pleasing to You always.  Amen.