Most of us know enough to keep our mouths shut. We’ve learned that if we say bad things about other people that we will cause problems for ourselves. If we are rude and insulting, we will drive others away. Friends, neighbors, family, and employers may not want us around if we’re too rudely outspoken. We have learned that that people hear and heed our words.
We worry more about what we say than about what we think. Usually, we don’t have an ongoing realization within our minds that God is as aware of what we think as people are of what we say.
We may visualize this by imagining that when He programmed us, He downloaded a tiny “thought-transmitter” within us. He’s aware of everything we think and desire. To keep ourselves from offending Him, we should assume that our mind is, in a word, “bugged”, and that He is as aware of everything we think that people around us are of what we say.
Our thoughts are an important, maybe the most important, component by which we are judged. What we think comes before what we say and what we do. So, if we control what we think, we avoid words and deeds that He finds reprehensible.
He warns us to be careful about the thoughts we think. He tells us to control our thoughts. He says that if there is a dividing line between thinking and saying, but that He wants purity of thought and of words. We may go a step forward, and say that the thought is the word is the deed.
He warned is very specifically to be careful of our thoughts. Matthew 5:28 clearly tells us: “Jesus said ‘But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'”
The punishment for thinking about adultery is the same as for committing it; painful and eternal. If we want to play it safe, we’ll assume that the same consequences exist for willing thoughts of all sin. We should heed His warning above all others, working and praying to keep our minds free of wanting to sin. That way, we avoid the sentence passed for thinking and/or doing.
We should not think of murder, either. Or, of wiping out those with whom we disagree. Or, of stealing. We may, in fact, wonder if such thoughts are actually demons, spiritual life-forms seeking to lead us astray.
The safest thing to do is just pray and pray and pray any time we don’t have anything more important to do. Just as we remind ourselves to “Watch your mouth!”, we also tell ourselves, “Watch your thoughts!”
When we do catch ourselves thinking something we shouldn’t, we may say, “God, that’s exactly the kind of thing I don’t want to be thinking any more. Please keep me safe from those sorts of thought.”
If we humbly request Him to provide help in that most important area of our lives, He will be sure we get it. Our Guardian Angels will be so glad we asked!
