What Do You Think?

I came across an interesting scripture this morning in my quiet time. Have you ever had one just jump off of the page? This one did for me.

Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7 (New King James Version)

We both know that there is nothing wasted in the Bible. Every word has been put in there for a reason. So why would it talk about the wicked man forsaking his way, and the unrighteous man forsaking his thoughts?

Napoleon Hill said it best in his great book "Think and Grow Rich" when he wrote that "thoughts are things". And since the battleground for this great spiritual warfare is the mind of man, it makes sense that there should be a twofold approach to that scripture. Wicked people just need to flat out stop doing their wicked actions. But someone who is not right with God is in a different place. He hasn't actually DONE anything wicked...but he is thinking about it. And he too needs to squash the thought of sin before it becomes an action of sin.

I haven't seen one place in scripture where it says that we will never have an evil thought. Come drive your car in Dallas, Texas and you will have plenty of evil thoughts. But I do see where we are admonished to control our thoughts.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (New King James Version)

Jesus knew that the thought life is paramount when he said:

"You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:27-28 (New Living Translation)

So what do you think? Solomon said that as a man THINKS in his heart, so is he. Do you think thoughts of peace and power? Do you meditate on the positive promises of God daily? Or do you give your mind a steady diet of the negativity of the world, the lust of the sex industry, the pessimism of the news, or the doubt of humanistic academia? If we think like the world, we will have what the world has: a distance from God. But if we do what God says in that scripture (forsake our unrighteous thoughts) He will draw close to us. And that is something to think about!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?