Last time we focused on the intent of thoughts as seen in Genesis 6:5 and how men can have wicked intents of their thoughts while they have what they think of as good thoughts. If we move for the most part past the intent of the thoughts, in dealing with thoughts at all we are still in a place where the vast majority of Americans are unwilling to go. Surely, it is thought, our thoughts don’t matter and it is simply how we live. That in itself is a wicked thought. It is saying that a holy God does not care about the holiness of thoughts. Scripture is also devastating to the attitude that thoughts are not that important. We are commanded not to have any other gods in the presence of God and we do that primarily in our thoughts. We are commanded not to have idols and yet if we have wrong thoughts of God those wrong thoughts would be idols. We are commanded not to use His name in vain and certainly we use His name in our thoughts. We are guilty of murder if we hate (includes the thoughts). We are guilty of adultery if we lust and think after other people. We are guilty of stealing if we covet other people’s property. We are guilty of lying if our thoughts do not line up with our words. Thoughts are not just thoughtless or thoughtful; they are utterly wicked if they are not moved by the life of Christ in the soul in love for God.
Matthew 9:4 tells us that that at least some of our thoughts are evil and that Jesus knew them: “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?'” Matthew 15:19 tells us the source of our thought and again that at least some of our thoughts are evil: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Isaiah 59:7 speaks of the sins of certain people that the thoughts are included: “Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.”
Isaiah 65:2 goes even further and shows that one definition of rebellion is when people follow their own thoughts rather than listening to God: “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.”
If we look at the verses in the above paragraph, a chilling realization should come upon us. Our thoughts are in the presence of God and are known by Him. Our thoughts can be evil and evil thoughts are judged by the God we are in the presence of. The heart is the source of evil thoughts and so when we have evil thoughts it shows that our hearts are evil as well. Regardless of our outwardly good acts and deeds, we may be rebelling against God by following our own thoughts. We may be living for an idol that we have conjured up by the idol of self in suppressing the truth of God. We may have hearts that are evil and from that very evil we may be living a religious life that appears good to those who see our outward person. But God know our hearts thoroughly.
Jeremiah 4:14 is a hard verse to deal with if we view it as the mirror that we are to hold up before our hearts. “Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts Lodge within you?” The heart needs to be washed from evil because there are wicked thoughts lodging in them. It is not just that wicked thoughts pass though our minds as fleeting thoughts or as unwelcome guests, but they actually lodge within our hearts. The wicked thoughts are like those who lodge at certain areas for long periods. Could it be that we have so many wicked thoughts because they lodge within us? Could it be though we see some of our thoughts as sinful we simply turn our attention to other thoughts and let the wicked thoughts continue their lodging within us? If our heart is not washed from evil, the wicked thoughts continue to lodge there and be at home. Instead of looking at the source of those thoughts as our hearts, we look to other things or try to ignore them and push them away as much as possible. If we ignore sinful thoughts rather than evict them from lodging in our hearts by repentance and a cleansing of the heart, we are toying with sin as if it is nothing but a trifle.
There is no pursuit of holiness if there is no pursuit of holiness of heart and holiness of the thoughts of the heart. People are utterly deceiving themselves if they think they are holy and do not pursue holiness of thought. It is only if the heart is washed from evil will the wicked thoughts be case out from their lodgings within us. We must learn to deal with our wicked thoughts by going to the root of them which is the wicked heart. If we try to deal with our thoughts by doing mental gymnastics and suppressing thoughts, we will be dealing with the symptoms and not the disease. When we deal with the symptoms we might feel better for a while, but meanwhile the disease continues to grow and spread. Regardless of our profession, wicked thoughts are proud thoughts. God deals with those firmly and even fiercely: “He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart” (Luke 1:51). God opposes the proud and that would include those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. These are things that we must take to heart and seek the Lord to cleanse our hearts from them.
God Loves... Himself 
December 6, 2008 at 9:04 pm |
hmmmmm, thinking!
I am puzzled with this writing. It points to the issue of evil thoughts alright. It puts on the reader an undue burden, placing the solution with the reader doesn’t it?
Here would be an anecdote:
Jer 17:5 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jer 17:6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Jer 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
Jer 17:8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jer 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
I find that amusing and frightening at the same time and something similar to your article above.
Your article gives no antidote to the incessant thoughts continually filling my mind though! How are my thoughts brought under control seeing it is a curse to trust in man, as in, myself?
Here would be an antidote worth thinking about, yes?
Eph 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
Eph 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Eph 4:19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Eph 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!–
Eph 4:21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
Eph 4:22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
Eph 4:23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Eph 4:24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
When we realize our wretched state as Paul the Apostle likes to refer himself as, we can read and understand from whence comes our Salvation.
Paul wrote Timothy this:::> 1Ti 1:5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Here is some of what I find myself pondering daily now as I bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ by His power and authority, not mine:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1Th 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
1Th 5:20 Do not despise prophecies,
1Th 5:21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
1Th 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.
1Th 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Now my eyes are upon Him, He who has promised to save me and will surely do it! Do what you ask?
The God of peace Himself will sanctify me completely, and my whole spirit, soul and body will be kept blameless at the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This reinforces what we read Peter wrote here:::>
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Now, I continually bless My God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ because He has caused me to be born again to a Living Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, obtaining an inheritance because it is by God’s power that I am being kept, guarded through His Faith, a Faith that also is a “gift”.
It makes more sense to me then what Jesus Himself taught here:
Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
Mat 11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
Mat 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Now I indeed can rejoice in My Savior, whose yoke for me is easy and whose burden for me is light!
Now, as Paul, so I do when I teach and preach to others:::>
Act 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
December 6, 2008 at 10:55 pm |
Hello Michael:
Perhaps you are correct that some would see the stress applied in such a way that the burden was upon the reader. However, in short BLOGS there is no way to be balanced. When I drive things as I did in this posting to the heart, in some way it should be understood that we cannot change our own hearts from the inside out. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse the heart and only the life of Christ in the soul can bring forth truly holy thoughts. If nothing else (though I think there was more) the last sentence should get that point across: “These are things that we must take to heart and seek the Lord to cleanse our hearts from them.”
The law has more than one purpose. It has the purpose of showing a person his or her sin and of breaking that person from self-righteousness. It also should drive a person to Christ alone as a perfect sacrifice for that sin. But it should also drive a person to Christ alone in the New Covenant as the life in the soul that alone can move the soul to true holiness.