If you are concerned
about your character, your conduct, your life and your destiny,
then be concerned about your thoughts.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of
life”
(Prov. 4:23).
The heart is the mind, and the mind is the center of thoughts. “For as
he thinketh in his heart, so is he”
(Prov. 23:7).
A man may not be
what he appears to be, but he is what he thinks.
What goes
into your
mind, then, is extremely important. Be careful about the interests you
acquire, the tastes you cultivate, the desires you develop. They shape
what goes into your mind. The conversations you listen to, the scenes
you observe, the movies you view, the TV programs you tune into, the
newspapers, magazines and books you read, the songs by which you are
entertained, the jokes you laugh at, the things you are taught all have
a part in feeding information into your mind.
You evaluate and
monitor all that you hear and see. Your standard for evaluation and your
conscience are vital and play their roles. You may seek out or receive
what is vulgar or distorted, or you may reject and refuse it. You may
pursue and embrace what is wholesome and true, or you may have no
interest in it and neglect it. Be cautious, particular and selective
about what goes into your mind. If you allow garbage to go in, then
garbage will come out in the form of words and deeds.
What goes on
in your mind
is also extremely important. Be careful about your thoughts,
meditations, desires, ambitions, daydreams and fantasies. You determine
what goes on in your mind. You are the master of it because you have
control over it. It is your own little secret world -- except that God
knows all about it, and will one day bring it to light when you have to
answer for it in the judgment
(EccI.
12:14; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:10).
And sooner or later it will find expression in your life and make itself
known.
We cannot be like
God without thinking the thoughts of God. We cannot know the thoughts of
God apart from the revelation of the things of God in the word of God
(1 Cor. 2:11-13).
We cannot have the thoughts of God in our hearts apart from reverent
study of and meditation upon the word of God, coupled with a sincere
desire to do the will of God
(Jn. 7:17).
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