You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)
…Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8 NLT)
Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. (Colossians 3:2 NLT)
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. (Ephesians 4:23 NLT)
I need to fix my thoughts so that they’re fixed on God. I need to allow the Holy Spirit, the helper Jesus promised, to renew my thoughts and attitudes.
The bible has much to say about our thoughts. After all, it is likely any deed we’ve done, whether good or bad, began with a thought. If we don’t stay in tune to what’s going on in our mind, we could quickly find ourself on a road we didn’t mean to go down.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) Jesus challenged his followers to look at God’s law as more than just the final action – but as a way of living that starts with our thoughts. Murder isn’t just about killing someone, but about thoughts of anger and hatred. Adultery isn’t just about the act of physically being with someone you aren’t married to, but about lustful thoughts. And later he reminded them that what makes them unclean does not come from outside of them, but rather from their heart… their thoughts.
For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” (Matthew 15:19-20 NLT)
And what we’re thinking matters to God. He knows our thoughts and how they contribute to our intentions.
You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. (Psalms 17:3 NLT)
…you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. (Jeremiah 11:20 NLT)
And since that’s so, I surely want not just my actions, but my thoughts as well, to be pleasing to God. For my actions to come from a pure heart on which God’s law has been written.
May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD. (Psalms 104:34 NLT)
They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. (Romans 2:15 NLT)
If those of us that know Jesus as the one true Savior would “fix our thoughts”, we could have quite an impact on a world where thoughts are getting darker and many people don’t seem to think that it matters. If we all caught our angry thoughts, our unthankful thoughts, our selfish thoughts, before they became words or actions, it would go a long way towards injecting some joy into a world that desperately needs it.
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT)
