Guard your mind, guide your life

We’ve all heard the expression, “garbage in, garbage out.” It originated with the computer world but it’s also a good description of the human mind. 

Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. It all begins in the mind: evil thoughts and actions, sexual sins, stealing, murder, greed, lying, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride and foolish living. All these come from inside and make people unclean.” It’s clear that our thinking guides our lives. Solomon’s fourth Proverb says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” 

The famous 19th century evangelist D.L. Moody was heard to say, “I’ve never encountered a fellow in my life who has given me as much trouble…as me.” That’s because we are the gatekeepers of what goes in our mind. No one else has responsibility for that. No doubt that Rev. Moody had Ephesians 4:17 in mind, “You must no longer walk as the pagans do, in the pointless thinking that goes on in their minds.” 

And so, a change is in order. The change that the apostle Paul talks about in Rom. 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” 

If you’re not satisfied with your progress as a Christian, it’s time to rid yourself of the old way of thinking and import totally new thinking. I saw a real-life example of this when I lived in Oklahoma. They have thousands of what are called scrub oak trees. They’re only about 20 feet tall, provide no shade in the hot Oklahoma summers, and are just flat out ugly. The ugliest thing about them is that in the fall their leaves turn an ugly brown and instead of falling to the ground, the old leaves hang on the tree all winter until spring when the new leaves push off last year’s brown leaves. That’s a good example of what Paul was talking about in Romans 12, we have to displace the old, ugly, pre-Christian way of life by letting the new leaves of our new life in Christ take over. 

Most of life’s battles take place between our ears, so we need to think about what we’re thinking about. Here’s Paul’s advice in Philippians 4:8: “Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure — things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things.”

As good gatekeepers of what we allow to enter our minds, we need to make King David’s prayer our prayer: “May my spoken words and my unspoken thoughts be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Ken Staley is pastor of Faith Church of Pleasant Grove 9:30 a.m. and Harrisville Methodist Church 11 a.m. Both are Global Methodist congregations. Text Ken at 918-852-9797