Why Right Thinking Matters to God

Most people are lazy … I mean, really lazy … when it comes to their thinking.  They take in what the media dishes out and let it inform their thinking and decision making, when the media often gets the story wrong.  I’m not even talking about media bias,¹ I am just referring to the dissemination of wrong information.  Yet we take it right in, and let it shape us.  Some listen to their pastors and take his message as though it came from the lips of God, right?  Others read books and are convinced by a well-constructed plotline, that perhaps Jesus was married, though that is absolutely contrary to Scripture, right?  It seems we have failed to stop and sift the thoughts we let into our consciousness and allow to shape our worldview, outlook and attitudes.

Take the Q Conference I attended last week—so many conversations, discussions, debates, conversations in the hallways of the massive historic Boston building about topics ranging from racial strain to why doctrine is important to the ‘Gay Dilemma’ in Christianity today to a talk on the Pope to Christianity in the Ivy League schools, and many, many more.  Pay attention for a minute here—I realized if I was not careful, I could be easily influenced.  Why?  Because I really like the founder of Q², Gabe Lyons, and happen to agree with much of what he has written, I could have listened, took notes, and ‘bought’ the positions of the various speakers that presented (even though they were there to raise issues, not present Lyons’ viewpoint). Buuuut, it is critical, yea, it is incumbent on me as a Christian, and a teacher and author, a woman of influence, to listen well, and then consider carefully the content, and match it up to the Word of God.  I must ask the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom to use discretion in what I make part of my belief system. 

What does this have to do with Scripture, you may ask, (and what happened to Matthew chapter six?  We will return there tomorrow)?  The Bible actually has quite a lot to say about right thinking.  The main thrust of Paul’s letter to Timothy is to warn him to keep the gospel pure, to keep ‘the main thing the main thing’, to make sure that false teaching does not adulterate that for which our Lord gave his life … and yes, to guard that errant thinking does not corrupt pure thinking.

God created our minds, and he cares about our thinking—the substance of our thoughts matter to him.  David said, “Lord, you have examined me, and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them.”⁴

So must we always have our heads turned this way and that, distracted by our thoughts?  Or are we the determiner of our thoughts?   According to Paul, we are to take every thought captive, to make it obedient to Christ⁵ … and for goodness sake, where do we start?  With the Psalmist again, I do believe, committing the course of our thinking to God.  “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”⁶

We can be mindful, we must be mindful at every turn.  So often I have prayed at the start of my day that very same prayer: “Lord, may my words, may my thoughts be pleasing to you today, O God, my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.”

Join me in that prayer, won’t you? “May the words of my mouth and my thoughts be pleasing to you, O Lord …may I be a wise consumer of what I let into my brain, and what I permit to influence me!  Amen.

^{1 – Did you watch this Ted Talk -}  http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world ?

^{2 - QIdeas.org}

^{3 – 1 Timothy}

^{4 – Psalm 139.1-2
5 – 2 Corinthians 10.5}

^{6 – Psalm 19.14}