HEART FREE OF EVIL THOUGHTS

“Bringing EVERY THOUGHT into captivity to the obedience of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 10:5b

Divine Transformation produces a HEART FREE of EVIL THOUGHTS: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing EVERY THOUGHT into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2Cor.10: 4-6). Believers in Christ are empowered to capture thoughts that are not well-pleasing to God before they settle in the heart, gain control of our mind, or become a part of their being! “As a man thinks, so is he” (Psa.23:7). Our thoughts are crucial to who we are. Who we are is shaped moment by moment by the thoughts we choose to let into our mind and heart!

Our Lord Jesus listed evil thoughts as the first among Heart Spoilers: “For from within, out of the HEART of MEN, proceed EVIL THOUGHTS…” (Mk.15:19a). The hearts of all sinners, irrespective of moral camouflages, are equally wicked: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart…” (Jer.17: 9-10a). Evil, unclean thoughts plague the mind of the morally upright man as much as they do the mind of the immoral – even though lack of opportunity and fear of society may have barred the former from committing depravity in the flesh.

It’s however important to distinguish between temptation and sin. Even Jesus was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb.4:15). Walking in Dominion, He never once yielded to temptation – even in His mind – and so never sinned. We too shall be tempted all through life, but we need not sin. We sin only when the evil desire is permitted to conceive in our minds (Jam.1:15). If we reject the suggestion at once, we do not sin. While we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our head, we can prevent them from making a nest in our hair. To cherish an evil thought that presents itself to our mind, even for a moment, can lead into sin. 

Victory over evil thoughts comes through an honest confession of our fleshly flaws, a real desire for deliverance, an acceptance of the fact of our death with Christ, and an utter yieldedness of our bodies and minds to the Lord (Rom.6: 1-14). Continuous Victory comes as we “walk in the Spirit” and cooperate with Him in disciplining our lives (Gal.5: 16-19). Failure to discipline our eyes and ears – cutting off all lustful reading, seeing, hearing, and browsing – will lead to undisciplined and unclean thoughts (Mt.5:28-30).

The greatest of saints have confessed that they had to battle constantly with evil temptations in their minds. They had to discipline their bodies severely in order to get victory. Job, though a married man with ten children, recognized that if he was to be delivered from lustful thinking, he had to control his eyes: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?” (Job 31:1). For men, the greatest temptations come through the eyes such that if care is not exercised and an unclean thought or picture is once allowed to enter the mind through the eye-gate, it becomes almost impossible to remove it from there.

Disciplining our thoughts includes observing a daily devotional time with God early at dawn and every night before retiring to bed. Rather than to leave the door wide open for evil thoughts to flood our minds, we must saturate our minds with God’s Word as a sure safeguard against evil thinking. David said, “Your word I have hidden in my HEART, that I might not sin against You” (Psa.119:11).

Finally, Philippians 4:8 highlights the Believer’s Syllabus for a Positive Thought Life: “Finally, brethren, whatever thing are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,  whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things (Phil.4:8).