In 2001 a movie came out called, A Beautiful Mind. The movie was based on a true story about the life of mathematician John Nash in which it dramatized Nash’s struggle with paranoid schizophrenia.
There was a scene where he was arguing with his psychiatrist and his psychiatrist shouts,
“You can’t reason your way out of this!”
Nash then shouts, “Why not? Why can’t I!”
His psychiatrist replies:
“Because your mind is where the problem is in the first place!”
Today we are going to talk about the problem of our mind, our thoughts.
Let’s start by looking at the process; what is the typical process?
First, something triggers a thought. Maybe it is a song, a person, a memory – or maybe it is a song that reminds you of a person that triggers a memory. However it happens, a thought triggered.
At this point you have a choice, discard the thought or entertain the thought.
If you decide to entertain the thought for a length of time it becomes what we might call, “a meditation of your heart”. When you “entertain” the thought deeply enough it will affect further thoughts and even actions.
When you consider the impact of our thoughts, it is crucial to quickly discern if a thought is edifying or destructive the moment the thought pops into your head. If the thought is destructive, we must kill it immediately!
That is the challenge, isn’t it?
If we don’t kill a destructive thought immediately we are giving it opportunity to grow in size, power, and strength.
If we are being completely transparent and honest, the problem is, some thoughts that we know are destructive, we enjoy, so we “play” with them for a little bit. Then that “little bit” becomes a few minutes and eventually spirals out of control.
One reason thoughts are so dangerous is that they are hidden from others. Only you know your thoughts, so they are allowed to get as wicked as we want in order to satisfy our appetite.
The reality is, our thoughts are not hidden from everyone. God knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart; nothing is hidden from His view.
In fact, in Matthew 7 Jesus speaks of what defiles a person and He begins the list with; “evil thought”. Let that soak in! Jesus said, “evil thoughts defile a person; evil thoughts make them unclean in the sight of God.”
The next logical question is, what is evil? If “evil thoughts” defile a person, what is evil?
Answer: Anything that opposes God’s character and will. Evil is sin.
This isn’t a complete list; but let’s look at a few “evil thoughts” we must guard against:
• Sexual Immorality
• Greed
• Jealousy
• Anger
Consider this for a moment and let the Spirit speak to, and maybe even convict your heart as you consider:
To entertain thoughts of sexually immoral behavior is evil.
To become obsessed with the thoughts of having more and more money, power, or stuff is evil.
To be consumed with jealousy over someone else’s fortune, looks, relationships, or things is evil.
To be so angry with someone or something that you see red and can’t control your thoughts of anger, and maybe even revenge, is evil.
A worldy person might respond to this by saying, “It’s no big deal, I won’t act on my sexually immoral thoughts; or I won’t lie cheat or steal to gain more, or, I won’t harm the person I am jealously obsessing over; or, it is not like I am going to actually take revenge on the person I am angry with.”
But, for the Christian, the one who has the desire to be conformed to the image of Christ and walk by the Spirit; we must recognize or wicked thoughts for what they are; evil thoughts that Jesus says defile us.
We must repent of our wicked thoughts; in other words, our mind must change to understanding and agree with the fact that our thoughts do matter, and our thoughts are not always good, but instead are often wicked.
Once we repent, we must develop a war strategy. We must war against the desires of the flesh, and that includes the thoughts we have.
The Word of God says, “overcome evil with good”. The context of this directive is usually used regarding people in the world and the things they do; but the directive works in the battlefield of our mind as well. Light chases away darkness, so, if we can prepare our mind for action, and be at the ready to take every thought captive, destroy the wicked thoughts, and think on Christ instead, we will have victory, we will overcome the evil thoughts with good thoughts.
One practical strategy might be to have a go to verse of Scripture to recite or a Gospel song to sing the moment evil thoughts pop in.
As Paul asks in Romans 7; “who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Answer:
Jesus
Jesus is the answer!
By the Grace of God we are redeemed, reconciled……and we are also regenerated…..reworked by God to be conformed to the image of Christ.
If you are a Christian, you are a child of the King, so, let’s not only walk and talk like princes and princesses; let’s THINK like one too.
