The Bible indicates that our thought lives ultimately determine our character. Solomon said, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Pro. 23:7).
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 116. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
Holiness begins in our minds and works out to our actions. That being true, what we allow to enter our minds is critically important. The television programs we watch, the movies we may attend, the books and magazines we read, the music we listen to, and the conversations we have all affect our minds. We need to evaluate the effects of these avenues honestly, using Philippians 4:8 as a standard. Are the thought stimulated by these various avenues true? Are they pure? Lovely? Admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy?
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 117. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.
Increasingly our world is short on thinking and long on experience. Mix this with inner turmoil and a desperate need for answers from some higher source, along with the infiltration of eastern religions, and you can easily see why the mystical aspects of our culture are so predominant. Our generation would certainly far rather load all of their information in a computer and forget the agony on thinking, especially thinking biblically.
Led by the Spirit, Joshua Press, 1999, p. 34-35, http://www.solascriptura.ca/shop/store.php?crn=215.
You must keep your memory clean and pure, as it were a wedlock chamber, from all strange thoughts, fancies and imaginations, and it must be trimmed and adorned with holy meditations and virtues of Christ’s holy crucified life and passion: That God may continually and ever rest therein.
Rules and Instructions for a Holy Life.
Most human beings evidently do not like to think. At the very least, most seem quite satisfied never to think in a concerted, critical, and careful way. [They] never think strategically, consistently, or critically. They go from thought to thought without reflection, analysis, or questioning their own decisions. They operate at the basic level of thinking, and they think about the things that interest them, but they are not seriously interested in the process and quality of thought.
The Conviction to Lead, Bethany House Publishers, 2012, p. 59, Used by Permission.
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Imagination is the hotbed where this sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions.
Thoughts for Young Men.
All our minds are working in overdrive recruiting files to “dwell upon” (Phil. 4:8). Do those thoughts successfully pass through the spiritual grid presented to us in Philippians 4:8? Are we needlessly putting thoughts in our minds that are contrary to Philippians 4:8? Therefore, think twice before you look at that picture, watch that movie, entertain that gossip, visit that place, receive that counsel, read that article and listen to that song. Are you guarding your heart by living a disciplined life in the pursuit of righteous living and practicing self-control at to what you choose to dwell upon?
How to Stand Firm in the Lord – Part 2, Philippians 4:6-9, February 5, 2023.
