Controlling our thoughts

One of the ways Christ distinguished between His teachings and those found in the law of Moses was to first state what the law of Moses taught and then say “but I say unto you…”  One such statement can be found in Matthew 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Our Lord first quoted from Exodus 20:14, which clearly taught that it was unlawful to commit adultery. Then Jesus took it further by saying that even looking at a woman with lust is a sin. Is our Savior actually saying that we ought to control our thoughts? Yes. This reminds me of Paul’s words to the Corinthian brethren when he told them what love does not do – it “thinks no evil” (I Cor. 13:5).

Godly people work very hard to discipline their minds. This is accomplished by meditating on things which are proper. The Philippian saints were told, “Finally, brethren, 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,” (Phil. 4:8).

Yet we all recognize the difficulty in controlling our thoughts all the time. This is much easier said than done. What guidance has the Lord offered to help us with this? Read on for a few things we can use.

Do not meditate on ungodliness

Garbage in, garbage out. It is hard to avoid impure thoughts if we only dwell on impure things. If we do not control what we watch and listen to, we will surely become worldly-minded. This was precisely the state of the world prior to the flood. God described mankind like this: “…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” (Gen. 6:5). Children are not born with a dirty, corrupt mind – it is developed by constant exposure to evil. I realize that we cannot leave this world and that evil is everywhere. However, inviting evil into our lives is a recipe for an evil mind.

Learn to walk away

This is where our last point left off. Gossip, dirty jokes and other inappropriate conversations will stop much sooner if people refuse to listen (Eph. 5:4). Even if we cannot stop them at the source, God’s children can the leave the conversation, change the channel or walk out of a movie. Again, the goal is to keep our mind from being filled with impure thoughts. There is a reason brethren were told that evil company corrupts good habits (I Cor. 15:33). One such good habit that can be corrupted is a holy mind.

Remember who we are to think like

The goal of every saint is to be different from the world. Those who succeed in not being conformed to this world are those who renew their minds (Rom. 12:2). This is done by imitating Christ. When it comes to thinking right, Paul put it best: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” (Phil. 4:4). The more time we spend familiarizing ourselves with the Savior, the more we begin to understand He spoke words that promoted godly thinking.

We all need to ask ourselves what we are allowing to influence our thinking.  Let’s face it, if we are going to control our thoughts, we need to control what we think about!

                                                                                      Chuck