Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking- 2nd Peter 3:1 NIV

It’s way above my paygrade.

Nevertheless, sometimes I wonder about the “why” of some of God’s commands. Most of the “why’s” are easy. Thou shalt not murder is self-explanatory (Exodus 20). 

But what about our thoughts? 

God takes a clear interest not just in what His people do, but also in what they think about.  The New Testament is jam-packed with instruction regarding our thought life. 1st Corinthians 13 tells us Christian love thinks the best (1st Corinthians 13:4-7). Jesus instructed His followers to be cautious about what thoughts they choose to entertain and regularly called out wrong thinking. (Matthew 5:28, Matthew 6:34, Luke 5:20-22, Luke 9:46-48). Romans 12:2 reveals the key to pleasing God and walking in His will, ultimately lies in what we think about. The apostle Paul straight-up commands followers of Jesus to think about things that are “pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy”. That command is followed by a promise of blessing for obedience (Philippians 4:8-9). Anytime God promises blessing for obedience we ought to pay special attention to that command. It’s critical we figure out why that issue matters so much to God. 

This one can be confusing because the inside of one’s head is a controlled and confined space no one has access to except the one doing the thinking.  No one is obviously harmed by a mean thought, so why do our thoughts matter so much to God? The answer essentially boils down to four issues. God cares about what we think because: 

Our thoughts are like the check engine light on a car-

Our thoughts can serve as a spiritual warning system. Optimistic, benevolent and compassionate thoughts reveal a healthy spirit and hearts that are probably mostly focused on God, God’s Kingdom and the well-being of others. Conversely, paranoid, lustful, suspicious and distrustful thoughts are often an indicator of a much bigger and more worrisome spiritual problem. At best these types of thoughts reveal a lack of connection to the Holy Spirit, at worst they reveal systemic sins that require deep repentance.

Our thoughts ultimately shape us- 

To ancient Jewish people the “heart” was much more than an organ that pumped blood. The heart embodied all that a person was. The heart was a person’s thoughts and the feelings that were produced by what they thought about. The heart was their inner-person (Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 4:23), it was the part of the person that determined all of their actions. Jesus said that it is out of our heart that we speak and do evil. In other words, our thoughts have a shaping influence not just on our actions but on who and what we become (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45) 

Satan can do a lot with just a little bit of wrong thinking- 

The psalmist begins Psalm 73 by acknowledging that God shows special favor towards those who are “pure in heart” or in the modern vernacular that means: “good on the inside as well as the outside”. His acknowledgment is swiftly followed by an awkward confession: the psalmist divulges he came dangerously close to losing his spiritual direction because he spent too much time thinking on the (seeming) success of the arrogant and wicked.  His observations regarding the apparent affluence of wicked people morphed into wrong thinking about God which nearly caused his “spirit to become embittered” towards God (Psalm 73:21-22). The whole messy spiritual mess started with some thoughts that should have been reined in and prayed over before they had a chance to run wild and give birth to bitterness and hate (Hebrews 12:15, Ephesians 4:30-32). 

Assuming the worst about others creates a spiral that ends in serious sin-

Choosing to think the worst about others without rock-solid proof of wrongdoing is not discernment. It is a choice that gives the devil a foothold. A choice that often leads to fear, paranoia and even evil behavior (Ephesians 4:26-28, 1st Peter 5:8). This is because anytime anyone allows fear and/or paranoia run wild they run the very real risk of losing touch with reality. Such was the fate of King Saul. He basically projected all of the evil of his own heart onto David. This caused him to think the worst of David, his wrong thinking initiated a spiritual death spiral that led to a bunch of murder attempts and ultimately Saul’s insanity. Anytime we find ourselves assuming ill-intent of others without rock-solid proof we run the risk of becoming a Saul. No wants to be a Saul. Saul was a hot mess.

The apostle Paul understood it is impossible to have a pure heart while thinking mean, lustful, anxious, paranoid or suspicious thoughts (Psalm 24:3-5, Matthew 5:8, Matthew 6:25-34). Therefore, a critical spiritual discipline is learning how to take our thoughts captive to Christ (2nd Corinthians 10:5). We take thoughts captive through a process of analyzing what comes into our minds and asking ourselves some questions about those thoughts:

Is this thought noble, pure admirable, kind or praiseworthy?

At the end of the day will this thought produce something wholesome and life-giving?

Am I assuming good intent?

Am I the worst motives in this situation? 

If this thought is permitted to run wild will it produce some sort of death in my life? Such as the death of a relationship, my character, my purity, or my reputation? 

If the answer to question 1-3 are “no” or the answers to 3 or 4 are “yes” the thought needs to be taken directly to Jesus. ASAP. We need to ask Him to cleanse us from our unrighteousness (Psalm 51) and ask Him to help see people and situations through His eyes. Learning to pray through what we think about produces a pure heart and ensures God’s favor in our lives (Proverbs 22:11).