Learn how to develop a way of thinking conformed to Christ considering four aspects of a Christian’s thought life: repentance, reckoning, meditation, and wisdom.
Welcome to the Two Journeys podcast. This is Sanctification Monday, and my name is Andy Davis. In this podcast, we seek to answer the question, what is spiritual maturity? We believe that spiritual maturity can be broken into four main sections: knowledge, faith, character, and action. Today we’re going to continue our study on character or the heart, as the Bible would call it. And we’re going to zoom in specifically on our thought life, what you think. We have already discussed the marvels of the human brain and all of its complex neural connections. Remember we talked about that in the knowledge section, the city of truth being erected brick by brick through good sound Bible instruction. In this section as we’re discussing mature Christian character, I want to speak about what we choose to think about. What are you actually doing with your brain, with your mind through the day? What do you choose to consider, to ponder?
We want a thought life conformed to Christ.
And we want to think about the aspects of our thought life for the Christian. And that goes a long way into determining the character of the person. We want a thought life conformed to Christ. Now in order to do this, we need to understand where we’ve come from, our previously darkened minds. We have to understand what God’s already done to save us through faith in Christ. The scripture has actually some very shocking things to say about the thought life of unbelievers. Think about what it was like in the days before the flood of Noah. In Genesis 6:5 it says, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”
Now, the flood of water that covered the Earth cleansed it temporarily from all of those wicked thoughts because the people died. But it wasn’t long, however, soon after the flood that that same pattern of sinful thinking returned. No one has so accurately described the darkness of the unregenerate mind as the apostle Paul. In his writings, he talks about the mind of the flesh. In Romans 8:5-9, he says,
Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
So, in this vital passage, there are two different realms, almost like two different nations we can live in. The realm of the flesh and the realm of the Spirit. To be in the flesh, in the mindset of this passage, is to be unregenerate. The key difference between our lives before we were born again and the lives we are living now is our mindset. How do we think? The unregenerate mind is constantly set on fleshly things, on fleshly appetites, earthly appetites like the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. That’s the way unregenerate people think. The outcome of that kind of life is death. Present spiritual death, being dead in our transgressions and sins even while we live, Ephesians 2, but ultimately eternal death and hell. Conversely, the life of the Spirit is characterized by a mindset on the things of the Spirit, resulting in a present life of peace and fruitfulness and a future eternal life in heaven.
Therefore, mindset, what you think about, is the most critical factor in discerning whether or not you have been regenerated, whether or not you are born again, whether or not you are a Christian. Now from this basic distinction, we’re going to draw out four aspects of the Christian thought life that are worthy of discussion. Repentance, reckoning, meditation, and wisdom. Let’s talk about each of those one at a time. First repentance. On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther hammered on the door of the Wittenberg Castle. He posted the famous 95 Theses. And most church historians mark that as the beginning of the Reformation. Now, these 95 theses were ideas or concepts that Luther was posing for debate, theological debate. And he began with the first of the 95 Theses: “When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said repent, he willed that the entire life of believers be one of repentance.”
So, Jesus began his preaching ministry, as Luther is alluding to, with the words, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Now what does that mean? To repent means to rethink, to change your mind based on new thoughts, new convictions. You have already been thinking in a certain way and you’ve seen the bitter fruit of your faulty thinking. Therefore, you repent, you change your mind. Both the Latin basis of repent and also the Greek foundational word has to do with a change of mind. Luther rightly perceived that repentance was not merely a converting grace, something that happened at the beginning of the Christian life, but you would have to be repenting the rest of your life. You have a whole bunch of new thinking to do. You have to rethink everything.
As the city of truth is being erected in your soul, in your mind, it’s not built on bare flat ground. It’s actually built on the smoldering ruins of a past city of falsehood that your own flesh and that Satan erected in your mind. We have only begun to think like Christ. We’ve only begun to see the truth as Christ sees it. Old patterns of thinking must be repudiated one at a time. And some of them actually have to be repudiated repeatedly so the depths of their roots become more and more apparent. So, a Christian may actually find himself or herself repenting five times in one hour in a normal Christian day. Think about a simple trip to the supermarket. In the parking lot, another driver takes a convenient parking place that you have picked out for yourself. And you get mad, and you say something under your breath, but then the Spirit convicts you of your sinful anger and at that point you repent. You think, why should I have that spot and not someone else? And you have more of a servant attitude toward the parking lot.
Then you go in and begin shopping and you notice an older woman struggling to get a shopping cart out of this stack of carts. And you walk right by her and don’t give her another thought. And then the Spirit convicts you of your self-focus, and you repent. And you think, well, she needs my help. And you turn around and help pull the cart out for her. Then you walk through the junk food aisle, and you pick out two bags of your favorite junk food. But the Spirit convicts you, saying that you’ve been trying to lose weight, and this is exactly the kind of habit pattern you need to break. So, you say to yourself, I don’t need those, and you put them back.
Then you walk by the greeting card section. You vaguely remember that your mother’s birthday is coming up within two weeks and you think, I’ll get a card next week. The Spirit convicts you of procrastination. And you repent, thinking, why not get it now? Today is as good as any other time, and why should I presume that I’ll have another chance? So, you pick out a card. And then you wait in the checkout line near another shopper, and the idea of witnessing pops up in your mind. But you put it out out of fear, and you just don’t want to do it. And the Spirit convicts you, and you repent from that. And you say in your heart, Christ commanded me to be a witness. And you begin to share the gospel with the fellow shopper. That’s five times in maybe 30 minutes.
It is a mark of the love of God in Christ that he continually rebukes our faulty thinking moment by moment through the indwelling Spirit.
So that’s what I think Luther meant when he said the entire life is one of repentance. These patterns of wrong thinking and many others are consistently being confronted by the Spirit. And the Spirit uses texts of scripture or painful experiences to reveal our spiritual flaws. As Jesus said to the sinful church at Laodicea, “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (Revelation 3:19). It is a mark of the love of God in Christ that he continually rebukes our faulty thinking moment by moment through the indwelling Spirit.
So that’s repentance. Secondly, let’s talk about reckoning. Now, this word reckoning is really almost obsolete now in the English language. You think about like an old western when some guy with a dusty cowboy hat says, “I reckon so.” But I don’t think anybody uses that word anymore. But yet it’s used in some of the translations of the Bible, the King James and other things. For example, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). In his own mind, by his own perspective, God chose to see Abraham as righteous through faith. And he chooses to see us that way.
Despite the contrary appearance of us as sinners, he reckons our faith as righteousness. We have to imitate God in various arenas of reckoning. There are aspects of the Christian thought life that have to do with seeing things in a certain way that appear to be different than that. A more popular way for the word reckoning has to do with our attitude. Attitude comes from a prior reckoning being applied to a specific situation resulting in a certain inward demeanor with corresponding emotions. We frequently speak of someone’s cheerful attitude and hard work or someone’s bad attitude toward authority.
A Christian seeks to think about each issue of life as Christ would and take upon himself a Christ-like attitude in each of those arenas. And again, I’m going to say this, despite contrary appearances, despite what we might see the situation as being. For example, we are to reckon or consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11. You’re supposed to think of yourself that way. I am dead to sin.
We are to consider our present sufferings as not worth comparing with future glory. Romans 8:18. We are to consider that our present sufferings are light and momentary. 2 Corinthians 4:17. We are to consider our present afflictions as essential to our salvation. Therefore, we’re to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. James 1:2-4. Okay, we are to consider ourselves as sheep for the slaughter for the cause of Christ. Since that’s how God sees us, Romans 8:36. We are to consider that our daily lives, our gifts, our money, our possessions are actually not truly ours, but they’re actually to be used for the advance of the gospel.
As Paul said in Acts 20:24, “I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me of testifying to the gospel.” We are to consider anything we get in this life as better than we deserve. We are to consider our weaknesses as strengths in the development of our humble reliance on Christ, as Paul did. “When I am weak, then I’m strong” (1 Corinthians 12:9). We are to consider others as better than ourselves. Philippians 2:3. Now that one’s hard, isn’t it? We are to reckon or consider other people that way. These are important attitudes that we have to fight to develop. They’re not natural to ourselves. Each one of them presents a challenge, but there’s a certain reckoning or considering of each one of these that’s essential to our sanctification.
The third area of thought life I want to talk about is meditation. Meditation: what you ponder, what you meditate on, what you marinate your mind in. By meditation, I want to zero in on what kind of thoughts dominate your mind. You can imagine a sports fan that’s just consumed with their sports team. All they do is think about that team all day long. Even when they’re at work, they’re thinking about tonight’s big game, something like that. Or you could imagine somebody that binge watches a certain show on Netflix or some other thing like that. They just can’t wait to watch the next episode. They’re just living for that. Or you could think about somebody that’s extremely career minded. They have no time for those kinds of pastimes. All they want is the corner office on the 11th floor of their steel and glass high rise. And so, all they do is think about their career every moment of every day, how they can get ahead. These are what people think about. Or you could imagine a young woman who has met, she believes, the guy she’s going to marry, and all day long she can’t stop thinking about him. Or you’re think about a guy that way with a gal that he’s just met.
God created the mind to find its ultimate satisfaction in himself.
See, just thought life. Just what’s dominating your thoughts all day long. What we cherish most is what we will think about the most. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God created the mind to find its ultimate satisfaction in himself. We should be thinking about God. We should be thinking about his greatness, his attributes. We should think about our relationship with him. We should think about actually all the created blessings as what they are in relation to him. God made this. God made every perfect gift. God gave me my wife. God gave me my children. God gave me my clothing. God gave me everything richly to enjoy, everything. I see every blessing as though it were in the hands of my heavenly Father, and he’s extending them saying, “Here, eat out of my hand.”
Every blessing comes to me from God and so I should be thinking about God all the time. Now, immature Christians may think they cannot control their thought lives. But the scriptures say they actually, not just can but must control their thought lives. I love this verse in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever’s true, whatever’s noble, whatever’s right, whatever’s pure, whatever’s lovely, whatever’s admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things.” So that’s a great list. And by the way, sometime ago I saw how Christ is all of these things. Christ is pure, Christ is lovely, Christ is admirable, Christ is excellent, Christ is praiseworthy, noble, all of these things. And so set your minds on Christ. Set your minds on him as the radiance of God, the image of the invisible God. Zero in on the loveliness and the beauty of God and of Christ.
And think also much about heaven, about your heavenly future, about the new Jerusalem as a radiant place filled with the glory of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Think about heaven all the time. Conversely, that list, whatever is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy should act as a filter for filthy thoughts being filtered out of our minds. Christianity is a religion of the heart. Islam doesn’t seem to care much what Muslims think about, what matters is what they do.
But Christianity is not that way. We zero in on our thoughts. God zeroes in on it and says, “What are you thinking about?” And so, we are to filter out of our minds anything that’s not pure or lovely or admirable or excellent or praiseworthy. Jesus said, “There’s nothing concealed that will not be disclosed” (Luke 8:17). Our thoughts will be revealed. And so, what we ponder, what we think about matters, what we meditate on.
Since our thought life is so vital, we need to carefully monitor anything that we put into our minds. As someone once said very wisely, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” It all begins with a thought. And so, we’ve got to be very careful what we look at on the internet, what we allow ourselves to see, what movies we watch, what comes in through our minds and through our eyes. We’ve got to watch that. So, I would commend when it comes to meditation, meditating on scripture. One of the best things that God has ever done for me in my life is to lead me to memorize long portions of scripture. I would commend that to you. But whether you memorize or not, and memorization is a great habit to develop, but whether you memorize or not, you need to meditate on scripture.
Meditate continually. Think about Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” I would say if you memorize scripture, you can do that. You can meditate on Philippians or Ephesians or something you’re memorizing day and night. Saturate your mind in the ins and outs and the details of scripture. Meditate much on scripture. This is not like that Eastern meditation which seeks to empty yourself. You’re becoming nothing. What’s the sound of one hand clapping? Something like that. That’s just foolishness, that Eastern, mystic type of meditation, which you’re seeking emptiness. No, we’re seeking to be filled, filled with the truth and the light and the beauty of God in Christ through scripture. So, meditate on scripture.
Finally, when it comes to thoughts, let’s talk about wisdom. What is wisdom? There’s an incredibly close connection in the Bible between knowledge and wisdom. They’re not identical, but they’re closely related. And Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” So, in the Hebrew writings, there’s a parallelism there between knowledge and wisdom. But they’re not identical. So, wisdom is the disposition of the soul that spiritual knowledge produces. Wisdom, the wise heart not only discerns the way of the Lord, but also delights in it and chooses it. Wisdom identifies the best ultimate destination and the best way to get there. So, wisdom ends up being very practical, very rubber meets the road.
And so I would say probably the primary passage in the Bible on the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is Proverbs 2:1-11. It says,
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, and if you turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; and if you cry out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he holds victory in store for the upright; he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair, every good path; for wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
So, seek wisdom, read the Book of Proverbs, find out how to be wise with your words, wise in your parenting, wise in the way you spend your money and your time, wise in the way you interact with various types of people, wise in everyday life. Rubber-meets-the-road daily wisdom. This will dominate your mind and your heart.
Well, today we’ve looked at your thought life, we’ve talked about different aspects of the thought life, and I would commend this to you: that you would understand everything that God wants you to do with your mind. Continual repentance, just throughout the day thinking new thoughts based on scripture. Reckoning, considering things a certain way as scripture instructs you, resulting in a certain attitude of the mind and the heart. Meditation, what’s dominating your mind and your thoughts. And then wisdom. As we conclude today, go into your week knowing that God has gone ahead of you and will be using everything you experience this week to sanctify you and bring you more and into conformity to Christ.
Welcome to the Two Journeys podcast. This is Sanctification Monday, and my name is Andy Davis. In this podcast, we seek to answer the question, what is spiritual maturity? We believe that spiritual maturity can be broken into four main sections: knowledge, faith, character, and action. Today we’re going to continue our study on character or the heart, as the Bible would call it. And we’re going to zoom in specifically on our thought life, what you think. We have already discussed the marvels of the human brain and all of its complex neural connections. Remember we talked about that in the knowledge section, the city of truth being erected brick by brick through good sound Bible instruction. In this section as we’re discussing mature Christian character, I want to speak about what we choose to think about. What are you actually doing with your brain, with your mind through the day? What do you choose to consider, to ponder?
We want a thought life conformed to Christ.
And we want to think about the aspects of our thought life for the Christian. And that goes a long way into determining the character of the person. We want a thought life conformed to Christ. Now in order to do this, we need to understand where we’ve come from, our previously darkened minds. We have to understand what God’s already done to save us through faith in Christ. The scripture has actually some very shocking things to say about the thought life of unbelievers. Think about what it was like in the days before the flood of Noah. In Genesis 6:5 it says, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”
Now, the flood of water that covered the Earth cleansed it temporarily from all of those wicked thoughts because the people died. But it wasn’t long, however, soon after the flood that that same pattern of sinful thinking returned. No one has so accurately described the darkness of the unregenerate mind as the apostle Paul. In his writings, he talks about the mind of the flesh. In Romans 8:5-9, he says,
Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
So, in this vital passage, there are two different realms, almost like two different nations we can live in. The realm of the flesh and the realm of the Spirit. To be in the flesh, in the mindset of this passage, is to be unregenerate. The key difference between our lives before we were born again and the lives we are living now is our mindset. How do we think? The unregenerate mind is constantly set on fleshly things, on fleshly appetites, earthly appetites like the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. That’s the way unregenerate people think. The outcome of that kind of life is death. Present spiritual death, being dead in our transgressions and sins even while we live, Ephesians 2, but ultimately eternal death and hell. Conversely, the life of the Spirit is characterized by a mindset on the things of the Spirit, resulting in a present life of peace and fruitfulness and a future eternal life in heaven.
Therefore, mindset, what you think about, is the most critical factor in discerning whether or not you have been regenerated, whether or not you are born again, whether or not you are a Christian. Now from this basic distinction, we’re going to draw out four aspects of the Christian thought life that are worthy of discussion. Repentance, reckoning, meditation, and wisdom. Let’s talk about each of those one at a time. First repentance. On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther hammered on the door of the Wittenberg Castle. He posted the famous 95 Theses. And most church historians mark that as the beginning of the Reformation. Now, these 95 theses were ideas or concepts that Luther was posing for debate, theological debate. And he began with the first of the 95 Theses: “When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said repent, he willed that the entire life of believers be one of repentance.”
So, Jesus began his preaching ministry, as Luther is alluding to, with the words, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Now what does that mean? To repent means to rethink, to change your mind based on new thoughts, new convictions. You have already been thinking in a certain way and you’ve seen the bitter fruit of your faulty thinking. Therefore, you repent, you change your mind. Both the Latin basis of repent and also the Greek foundational word has to do with a change of mind. Luther rightly perceived that repentance was not merely a converting grace, something that happened at the beginning of the Christian life, but you would have to be repenting the rest of your life. You have a whole bunch of new thinking to do. You have to rethink everything.
As the city of truth is being erected in your soul, in your mind, it’s not built on bare flat ground. It’s actually built on the smoldering ruins of a past city of falsehood that your own flesh and that Satan erected in your mind. We have only begun to think like Christ. We’ve only begun to see the truth as Christ sees it. Old patterns of thinking must be repudiated one at a time. And some of them actually have to be repudiated repeatedly so the depths of their roots become more and more apparent. So, a Christian may actually find himself or herself repenting five times in one hour in a normal Christian day. Think about a simple trip to the supermarket. In the parking lot, another driver takes a convenient parking place that you have picked out for yourself. And you get mad, and you say something under your breath, but then the Spirit convicts you of your sinful anger and at that point you repent. You think, why should I have that spot and not someone else? And you have more of a servant attitude toward the parking lot.
Then you go in and begin shopping and you notice an older woman struggling to get a shopping cart out of this stack of carts. And you walk right by her and don’t give her another thought. And then the Spirit convicts you of your self-focus, and you repent. And you think, well, she needs my help. And you turn around and help pull the cart out for her. Then you walk through the junk food aisle, and you pick out two bags of your favorite junk food. But the Spirit convicts you, saying that you’ve been trying to lose weight, and this is exactly the kind of habit pattern you need to break. So, you say to yourself, I don’t need those, and you put them back.
Then you walk by the greeting card section. You vaguely remember that your mother’s birthday is coming up within two weeks and you think, I’ll get a card next week. The Spirit convicts you of procrastination. And you repent, thinking, why not get it now? Today is as good as any other time, and why should I presume that I’ll have another chance? So, you pick out a card. And then you wait in the checkout line near another shopper, and the idea of witnessing pops up in your mind. But you put it out out of fear, and you just don’t want to do it. And the Spirit convicts you, and you repent from that. And you say in your heart, Christ commanded me to be a witness. And you begin to share the gospel with the fellow shopper. That’s five times in maybe 30 minutes.
It is a mark of the love of God in Christ that he continually rebukes our faulty thinking moment by moment through the indwelling Spirit.
So that’s what I think Luther meant when he said the entire life is one of repentance. These patterns of wrong thinking and many others are consistently being confronted by the Spirit. And the Spirit uses texts of scripture or painful experiences to reveal our spiritual flaws. As Jesus said to the sinful church at Laodicea, “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (Revelation 3:19). It is a mark of the love of God in Christ that he continually rebukes our faulty thinking moment by moment through the indwelling Spirit.
So that’s repentance. Secondly, let’s talk about reckoning. Now, this word reckoning is really almost obsolete now in the English language. You think about like an old western when some guy with a dusty cowboy hat says, “I reckon so.” But I don’t think anybody uses that word anymore. But yet it’s used in some of the translations of the Bible, the King James and other things. For example, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). In his own mind, by his own perspective, God chose to see Abraham as righteous through faith. And he chooses to see us that way.
Despite the contrary appearance of us as sinners, he reckons our faith as righteousness. We have to imitate God in various arenas of reckoning. There are aspects of the Christian thought life that have to do with seeing things in a certain way that appear to be different than that. A more popular way for the word reckoning has to do with our attitude. Attitude comes from a prior reckoning being applied to a specific situation resulting in a certain inward demeanor with corresponding emotions. We frequently speak of someone’s cheerful attitude and hard work or someone’s bad attitude toward authority.
A Christian seeks to think about each issue of life as Christ would and take upon himself a Christ-like attitude in each of those arenas. And again, I’m going to say this, despite contrary appearances, despite what we might see the situation as being. For example, we are to reckon or consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11. You’re supposed to think of yourself that way. I am dead to sin.
We are to consider our present sufferings as not worth comparing with future glory. Romans 8:18. We are to consider that our present sufferings are light and momentary. 2 Corinthians 4:17. We are to consider our present afflictions as essential to our salvation. Therefore, we’re to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. James 1:2-4. Okay, we are to consider ourselves as sheep for the slaughter for the cause of Christ. Since that’s how God sees us, Romans 8:36. We are to consider that our daily lives, our gifts, our money, our possessions are actually not truly ours, but they’re actually to be used for the advance of the gospel.
As Paul said in Acts 20:24, “I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me of testifying to the gospel.” We are to consider anything we get in this life as better than we deserve. We are to consider our weaknesses as strengths in the development of our humble reliance on Christ, as Paul did. “When I am weak, then I’m strong” (1 Corinthians 12:9). We are to consider others as better than ourselves. Philippians 2:3. Now that one’s hard, isn’t it? We are to reckon or consider other people that way. These are important attitudes that we have to fight to develop. They’re not natural to ourselves. Each one of them presents a challenge, but there’s a certain reckoning or considering of each one of these that’s essential to our sanctification.
The third area of thought life I want to talk about is meditation. Meditation: what you ponder, what you meditate on, what you marinate your mind in. By meditation, I want to zero in on what kind of thoughts dominate your mind. You can imagine a sports fan that’s just consumed with their sports team. All they do is think about that team all day long. Even when they’re at work, they’re thinking about tonight’s big game, something like that. Or you could imagine somebody that binge watches a certain show on Netflix or some other thing like that. They just can’t wait to watch the next episode. They’re just living for that. Or you could think about somebody that’s extremely career minded. They have no time for those kinds of pastimes. All they want is the corner office on the 11th floor of their steel and glass high rise. And so, all they do is think about their career every moment of every day, how they can get ahead. These are what people think about. Or you could imagine a young woman who has met, she believes, the guy she’s going to marry, and all day long she can’t stop thinking about him. Or you’re think about a guy that way with a gal that he’s just met.
God created the mind to find its ultimate satisfaction in himself.
See, just thought life. Just what’s dominating your thoughts all day long. What we cherish most is what we will think about the most. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God created the mind to find its ultimate satisfaction in himself. We should be thinking about God. We should be thinking about his greatness, his attributes. We should think about our relationship with him. We should think about actually all the created blessings as what they are in relation to him. God made this. God made every perfect gift. God gave me my wife. God gave me my children. God gave me my clothing. God gave me everything richly to enjoy, everything. I see every blessing as though it were in the hands of my heavenly Father, and he’s extending them saying, “Here, eat out of my hand.”
Every blessing comes to me from God and so I should be thinking about God all the time. Now, immature Christians may think they cannot control their thought lives. But the scriptures say they actually, not just can but must control their thought lives. I love this verse in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever’s true, whatever’s noble, whatever’s right, whatever’s pure, whatever’s lovely, whatever’s admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things.” So that’s a great list. And by the way, sometime ago I saw how Christ is all of these things. Christ is pure, Christ is lovely, Christ is admirable, Christ is excellent, Christ is praiseworthy, noble, all of these things. And so set your minds on Christ. Set your minds on him as the radiance of God, the image of the invisible God. Zero in on the loveliness and the beauty of God and of Christ.
And think also much about heaven, about your heavenly future, about the new Jerusalem as a radiant place filled with the glory of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Think about heaven all the time. Conversely, that list, whatever is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy should act as a filter for filthy thoughts being filtered out of our minds. Christianity is a religion of the heart. Islam doesn’t seem to care much what Muslims think about, what matters is what they do.
But Christianity is not that way. We zero in on our thoughts. God zeroes in on it and says, “What are you thinking about?” And so, we are to filter out of our minds anything that’s not pure or lovely or admirable or excellent or praiseworthy. Jesus said, “There’s nothing concealed that will not be disclosed” (Luke 8:17). Our thoughts will be revealed. And so, what we ponder, what we think about matters, what we meditate on.
Since our thought life is so vital, we need to carefully monitor anything that we put into our minds. As someone once said very wisely, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” It all begins with a thought. And so, we’ve got to be very careful what we look at on the internet, what we allow ourselves to see, what movies we watch, what comes in through our minds and through our eyes. We’ve got to watch that. So, I would commend when it comes to meditation, meditating on scripture. One of the best things that God has ever done for me in my life is to lead me to memorize long portions of scripture. I would commend that to you. But whether you memorize or not, and memorization is a great habit to develop, but whether you memorize or not, you need to meditate on scripture.
Meditate continually. Think about Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” I would say if you memorize scripture, you can do that. You can meditate on Philippians or Ephesians or something you’re memorizing day and night. Saturate your mind in the ins and outs and the details of scripture. Meditate much on scripture. This is not like that Eastern meditation which seeks to empty yourself. You’re becoming nothing. What’s the sound of one hand clapping? Something like that. That’s just foolishness, that Eastern, mystic type of meditation, which you’re seeking emptiness. No, we’re seeking to be filled, filled with the truth and the light and the beauty of God in Christ through scripture. So, meditate on scripture.
Finally, when it comes to thoughts, let’s talk about wisdom. What is wisdom? There’s an incredibly close connection in the Bible between knowledge and wisdom. They’re not identical, but they’re closely related. And Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” So, in the Hebrew writings, there’s a parallelism there between knowledge and wisdom. But they’re not identical. So, wisdom is the disposition of the soul that spiritual knowledge produces. Wisdom, the wise heart not only discerns the way of the Lord, but also delights in it and chooses it. Wisdom identifies the best ultimate destination and the best way to get there. So, wisdom ends up being very practical, very rubber meets the road.
And so I would say probably the primary passage in the Bible on the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is Proverbs 2:1-11. It says,
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, and if you turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; and if you cry out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he holds victory in store for the upright; he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair, every good path; for wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
So, seek wisdom, read the Book of Proverbs, find out how to be wise with your words, wise in your parenting, wise in the way you spend your money and your time, wise in the way you interact with various types of people, wise in everyday life. Rubber-meets-the-road daily wisdom. This will dominate your mind and your heart.
Well, today we’ve looked at your thought life, we’ve talked about different aspects of the thought life, and I would commend this to you: that you would understand everything that God wants you to do with your mind. Continual repentance, just throughout the day thinking new thoughts based on scripture. Reckoning, considering things a certain way as scripture instructs you, resulting in a certain attitude of the mind and the heart. Meditation, what’s dominating your mind and your thoughts. And then wisdom. As we conclude today, go into your week knowing that God has gone ahead of you and will be using everything you experience this week to sanctify you and bring you more and into conformity to Christ.
