Fix Your Thoughts On Jesus
How many thoughts do we think in a day? I suppose someone has figured that out, but I have no idea how many that would be. Some of our thoughts are idle, some are daydreaming, some are good, some we’re ashamed of, and even some may be profound. I know I haven’t nearly mentioned every kind of thought that man thinks, but we are thinking all the time. Have you ever been glad that other people can’t read your thoughts?
Heb. 3:1 says “Therefore, holy brothers, (and sisters, my addition), who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” The writer of Hebrews, who some Bible scholars think was Barnabas, urges the people he is writing to, to keep their thoughts fastened on Jesus. This is very good advice for all of us. If we have our thoughts fixed upon Jesus we won’t have time or space for idle thoughts to predominate.
Most sin originates in our thought life. Satan projects a thought our way. We entertain it and meditate upon it. The thought becomes desire and desire turns into action. All that doesn’t happen instantly and can simmer for days, weeks or months. But if we’re honest, when we have fallen into sin, we can look back to a thought that was introduced to us.
The Scripture has much to say about thoughts. In 1 Chronicles 9-10, David admonished Solomon before he actually took the throne, “Acknowledge the God of your father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” I think that’s a verse we should read every day!! The Lord searches our hearts and understands every motive behind our thoughts.!! That is a sobering thought.
Psa. 94:11 says “The Lord knows the thoughts of man.” Psa. 139:2: “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Jer. 12:3 “Yet you know me, O Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you.”
Since our thoughts are an open book to the Lord, it’s a good idea to start our day praying that the Lord will direct our thoughts, that we will only think thoughts that are pleasing to him, and that we will not sin with our thoughts. David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psa. 139:23. A good prayer to pray.
God is good all the time,
Naomi Brinkman
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