Thoughts and Deeds

 March 23, 2021

“Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. —Isaiah 55:6-7

It isn’t enough that when one is converted he changes his ways, his habits and patterns of life. My thoughts must be changed also. The adjustment of one’s activities without a corresponding adjustment of one’s thoughts will result in eventually reverting to the old activities. The addict may quit taking the drugs, the pervert may start living honorably, the sedentary may start a new exercise regimen, but if the thinking hasn’t changed, those new patterns break down rather easily. How often I have proceeded down a wrong road because I allowed my thoughts to take me there! My thought life can be an unruly beast; it doesn’t want to yield to discipline, and must be aggressively curtailed.

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tell us that “there is a way that seems right t o a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” God isn’t interested in short-term gains. He is in it for the long haul, has a long-distance target. When shooting at something far away, the slightest variance at the muzzle can result in completely missing the target. Our thinking doesn’t need to be wildly sinful or completely heretical for us to miss God’s target for our lives. Only a slight variance from God’s thoughts are enough to cause us to miss the goal. 

Isaiah goes on to say, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” —Isaiah 55:8-11 NKJV

My thoughts are not God’s thoughts, which is why I need the Scriptures, the Word of God which shall not return to him empty, but will accomplish the purposes for which it was sent. The Word of God alone gives me the right thoughts that will enable me to hit the target of holiness. I am grateful tonight for this Word which has been my companion through the day, guiding my thoughts so my actions today and tomorrow and the day after that will line up with God’s plans.