God wants to reign in your mind. Not by force, and not in the negative, brainwashing, never-have-a-thought-of-your-own kind of way. God gave us minds with the ability to reason and think logically for a reason. He wants to have a genuine relationship with all of our parts, and He can't do that if we just blindly accept what we're told without questioning and getting genuine with Him in terms of the thoughts in our minds. At the same time that God wants us to use our minds to think, He also wants us to know that He cares about the nature of the thoughts we think.
For many of us, our thoughts are not very nice. And we justify our not-so-nice thoughts and negative attitudes by telling ourselves that it's not wrong/sinful to think bad things as long as we don't act on them. But that false belief does not line up with God's word. In fact, In Colossians 1:21, we're told that we were once "his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions" [emphasis mine]. Logically speaking: Wrong thoughts can cause separation from God. Sin is that which separates us from God. Therefore, wrong thoughts are sin.
When we become Christians, we are called to change our ways so that our lives match up with our beliefs. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:21-23, "Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes." Look carefully at verse 23. In order for us to throw off our evil ways, our thoughts and attitudes--that stuff that happens in our minds--must be spiritually renewed. In life, most of what we do and say starts in our mind. If we our minds are in the wrong place, that's the first step towards our words/actions/lives being in the wrong place. Think of old cartoons when a character is deliberating between a good choice and a bad choice with a little devil whispering thoughts in one ear and a little angel whispering thoughts in the other ear. That may be a funny image, but it is fairly respresentative of how we first think in our minds and then act on what we think. If we give evil a sounding board in our minds, evil will eventually sound right. In the same way, when we "Fix [our] thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8), then we speack/act/live accordingly.
Ensuring that our thoughts are honorable to God requires some active thinking on our parts. When thoughts come into our head, we can choose to place them into the "good" category or the "rubbish" category. We should hold onto the thoughts in the "good" category, and we should either disregard or reframe the thoughts in the "rubbish" caegory. This process is how "We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5b, NCV). If we let our thoughts run amuk without any checks and balances to keep them in line with the truth, then they are likely to wander into the enemy's territory and our words/actions/lives will soon follow. On the other hand, if we take ownership over our thoughts and choose to give them to God's purposes, then God will transform our thoughts and attitudes and therefore our words/actions/lives.
Having said all of that, our will alone is not enough to effect this change of thinking. Rules and self-discipline "have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires" (Colossians 2:23). But fortunately for us, where our will and actions fail, the Holy Spirit's power succeeds. That is why in Ephesians 4:21-23 quoted above, the spiritual renewal of our thoughts comes after we've heard about Jesus and accepted His truth. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God fills us with His Holy Spirit so that the transformation in Ephesians 4 can take place. God is a gentleman and won't influence our thoughts without our permission. Moreover, because of the free will that God wants us to have so that He can have a genuine relationship with each of us, even once we've accepted Him, He still won't control our minds. We have to let His Holy Spirit empower us to submit our thoughts to Him. This is a day-to-day and moment-to-moment process rather than a one-time brain changing. We serve God fullest when we give Him our thoughts along with the rest of us, but like the rest of our walks, it's a choice we have to consciously and continuously make along our journey.
Posted by Kim at March 22, 2006 04:28 PM