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I Can Read Minds
Jon Burgess20He went on:“What comes out of a person is what defiles them.21For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.23All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Matthew 7:20-23
"As a man thinks, so he is."(Prov. 23:7). "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you" (Ps. 119:11). Bottom line, what we spend our time thinking about is what we will end up doing. The battlefield of the mind is where we win or lose the war of life. Jesus was pointing out that the Pharisee's focus on surface appearances was missing the point entirely. They were constantly thinking of ways to serve themselves while still looking like they were serving the Lord. Their thought life was now revealed in real life as Jesus shined his spotlight on the truth.
I can read minds. I didn't realize it until I read this passage today. Jesus makes it clear that what people end up doing on the outside is what they've been thinking about doing on the inside for a long time. So, I guess it's more accurate to say I can read minds eventually because eventually, we will all act out what we've been thinking about. Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly all start out in the thought life. If we don't mind our mind we won't mind doing these things that we would have never even considered doing before. The curefor sick thought? What I'm doing right here is the cure. Hiding God's Word in my heart. Feasting on truth instead of the lies of our entertainment-driven culture. I bring out entertainment because the entire industry makes its living off of feeding our minds the thoughts listed above. I love a good movie, but almost every plot device is centered on these sins. Though, initially, I can watch it and think, "I'd never do something like that", the more I watch it, the more I think about it and the more likely it is that I will do it. If we can read each other's minds based on our lives, I pray that all people would see is a man desperate to know Jesus.
Lord, thank you for this reminder. Thank you for the call back to win the battlefield of the mind by hiding myself in Your Word. You give me everything I need for life and godliness. I pray that I would escape into Your thoughts through Your Word instead of the thoughts of this world.
