Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. (Proverbs 4:23-27 ESV)
Thoughts are where all things we talk about and act out begin. It is so important that our thoughts remain pure if we want to maintain a lifestyle of worship. I'm not talking about having a "positive state of mind" that will bring about good things in your life as some of these TV preachers want you to believe. It's so much deeper and spiritual than that! Your mind is where you start filtering everything that you say and do. If you use the filter of Scripture in your thought processes, I believe you will begin to walk closer and closer with the Lord. But the filtering isn't just about watching what you think, it's also what you allow to be put in you. If you are constantly bombarding yourself with things of this world, your relationship with the Lord will be hindered greatly. Think about how vulnerable we are when it comes to our influences. When we hang around certain people we take on their characteristics and begin to act like they do. Its the same with other influences like TV, movies, music, and who we listen to on the radio. Your mind is like your digestive system: it needs food to digest. If you eat bad food, your health will be hindered. If you eat good food, your health will be increased. In the case of your mind, food is what you allow into your thought processes. If you are letting your mind feast on sex, profane speech, violence, etc., those are the thoughts your mind is going to dwell on. From there it's only a matter of time before you in some way start talking like and acting like those influences. Keep your mind guarded from things of the world that will hinder your walk with God, and filter your thoughts through Scripture to keep your walk with God pure. Take every thought captive to obey Christ. If you want to step up your relationship with God, make Him your enjoyment and dwell on His Word. But if you want to remain stagnant, keep influencing yourself with sinful things. If you prefer to do the latter, you should be very fearful. It could be that you have never understood the grace of God and haven't been saved from your sin... That is a scary thought.
I decided to keep thoughts and speech in one entry because they are so closely related. It takes so much more self-control to guard what you think and say than it does to have self-control over your body. James 3:2 says "For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body." I encourage you to read the rest of James 3. It's an amazing chapter. Jesus said in Matthew 15, "Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; that defiles a person." The over-religious Pharisees of Jesus day were so caught up in traditions that they would consider themselves defiled if they ate food without washing their hands. What they didn't understand was that their problem wasn't a physical problem but a spiritual problem. We have to remember that our main problems aren't physical but spiritual. Jesus said later in that chapter, "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." Speech is an important component to a lifestyle of worship because it is a mirror of what is going on in our hearts. We use our speech for many things. It is our main form of communicating. It is the outlet of our thoughts. We should be using our speech to praise God, sing to Him, share the Gospel, and edify each other. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." As I mentioned before in an earlier post, we aren't perfect. We won't always be perfect, but if we are striving to be a slave of worship and enjoy God for who He is, the chances of us sinning will diminish drastically. This is a bittersweet thought: we will never be perfect until we get to heaven, but the thought of sinning less is a great motivator to try to filter our words!
Pray with me today that we will capture and filter our thoughts through Scripture. Pray that our speech will be glorifying to God and uplifting to others. May God be glorified as we strive to be slaves of worship.
Enjoying Him,
Nick
