Thinking, thinking, doing??

Hey Girls,


What are you thinking about right now? Good or bad? Will it lead to action or remain in your head? Proverbs 15: 26 "The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him." Okay, so keep this in mind.


Ever had an inappropriate thought? Who hasn't! I mean come on, look at the world we live in, how do you stay pure in that? You see, God's forgiveness washes away all impurity. Which means, though we may have some sinful thoughts, we can ask for forgiveness and it gets taken away. It's hard to keep a pure mind. It's hard to pull back those thoughts about your fiancé when you want him but know inside it's not the right time. Do it anyway because pure thinking pleases God.


Purity means that we live without sin, without blemishes in our lives. It's difficult to walk this out everyday. There are many ways we can act out in purity- modest dressing, proper thoughts, appropriate relationships with others, honesty, integrity... Yet purity begins with what we think about in our mind. Our thoughts guide our actions. We don't just sin automatically, the thought to sin is already there. James 1: 14-15 says "...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." 


This is why it is so important to control our thoughts. I had a friend in high school who was in a relationship and told me that her philosophy was that it was okay for her to look at other guys, just not touch. But if you're looking, than you begin thinking and once that happens, all sorts of seeds of dissatisfaction can breed in your mind. It's like a crack in the door that opens just wide enough to let other impurities through. 


Hold on for a second though- you see a hot guy walking down the street- it's pretty darn hard not to notice! What guy doesn't see a pretty girl? We have to be realistic here. So we look, right, but it can stop there. When it's a choice, that we choose to look upon other guys, for the specific purpose of looking at them because their hot, than it's a mistake. Then we're opening our minds, letting our thoughts carry us further. We can admire someone, thinking how God made them beautiful or handsome but then end it. We need to let our satisfaction come from our own spouse or boyfriend. Why do you think unfaithfulness and break ups are so prevalent? Wandering hands start with wandering thoughts. 


Romans 13:14 says "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Having random inappropriate thoughts happens, it's natural, unavoidable but entertaining those thoughts is what leads to impure thinking. A thought can leave our mind and be gone in a second. If it's unhealthy, we can ask Jesus to take it away but as soon as we start to thinking about it, dwell on it, it becomes even harder for us to get out of our mind. It becomes a battle. So remember Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."


Ask God if there are any thoughts you should not be thinking. You may not even be aware that you are doing it! After all, just entertaining those sinful thoughts in our head is sin! We don't have to actually commit the sin with our actions. We can have personal sin just by what we think. Matthew 5: 28 makes it pretty clear that our thoughts count just as much as actions do towards God; "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Psalm 66:18 says "If I had cherished sin in my heart,  the Lord would not have listened." God won't listen to us if we hold sinful thoughts in our minds on purpose. 


Purity brings freedom to love God, and love others. Sin takes that away and gives us a guilty conscience. Having a pure conscience before God brings us much more freedom and happiness inside ourselves. So let's do our best to remain pure in thought and action.