What if our thoughts were displayed across our foreheads on
a mini LED screen?
Routine conversations are often difficult enough -
maintaining eye contact, smiling, responding appropriately with one’s body
language, and being a good listener require effort and practice. Imagine the
additional stress of knowing all your thoughts and opinions were scrolling
across your forehead for everyone’s viewing pleasure.
Depending on whom I was speaking with, it might go something
like this:
My Thought Screen: Oh,
please no… please be walking towards someone else… I know I didn’t come to your
Tupperware party and I have no excuse except that I really don’t want to buy
Tupperware and your house smells kind of weird…
Me: “Hi, So & So! How are you? “
My Thought Screen: Ahhh,
all the senseless small talk…
Me: “Me? Great!
I’m doing great, thanks! And you?”
My Thought Screen: I
still don’t really want to come to your Tupperware party….please find a new
fetish….
Me: “So glad to hear that things are going well! Hey, We
should get together sometime! Ok, definitely! Let’s do it!”
My Thought Screen: Why
do you always say that? You know you’re not going to “get together”… Just be
honest and say, “I’ll see you at church again next week and I’ll give you a
friendly wave and we can have this exact same conversation again, every Sunday,
for the next 25 years.”
Big, yucky trouble, right? I wouldn’t have a single friend.
Would you?
Maybe your issue wouldn’t be impatience or rudeness in
thought…maybe it would be insecurity. Imagine every timid, anxious comparison
you make between yourself and another advertised in flashing lights.
My thought screen:
Wow, does she work out or what? If I
could look like that for one day I’d be thrilled…aaaannd great, she’s coming
over…ugh, my stomach is flabby…she’s giving me the full-body scan – I know, I
know, you don’t understand how I can be so slovenly and undisciplined….ugh, my
stomach is flabby…suck it in, girl….there we go….place forearm strategically
over muffin top...do I have something in my teeth???
I’d never pass a personality test with that kind of erratic
thinking.
I can recall thousands of scenarios where my thoughts would
have gotten me in MAJOR trouble with authorities, destroyed relationships,
wrecked people’s feelings, and incriminated me guilty of lust, pride, or
incredulous disbelief. The things I have found darting through my mind would,
in comparison, make the vilest of sinners look like Mother Theresa.
Sometimes I have allowed myself to believe that I’m ok
because I didn’t act on what I was
thinking about doing. Or I convince myself that at least I’m not guilty of
being unkind to others, because what they don’t know (my thoughts) can’t hurt
them.
But as I read more in the Word of God, I see that I am
deceived if I think my purity is determined only by my external actions or by
my ability to exercise restraint. David prays in Psalm 104:34
“May all my thoughts be pleasing to Him, for
I rejoice in the Lord.”
Psalm 19:14 says “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in
your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Why did David care about what the Lord found in his
thoughts? Why should I care as long as I am following the rules?
And then I found it… Proverbs 23:7 spells it out for me
pretty clearly: “For as a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he.” The truth of the matter is that my thoughts may be
hidden from others for a time, but God weighs my every intent and He is the One
I should be concerned with – He is the One I profess to serve. To Him, if I am
dwelling on thoughts about hurting/deceiving/lusting after anyone, it is the
same to Him as if I had committed the acts physically. (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28) He looks at the heart and intentions.
Satan may shoot his “fiery darts,” projecting evil thoughts
and insecurities into my life, but ultimately, I am the gatekeeper of my own
thinking.
I am responsible to patrol the grounds of my heart and mind by making
every proud, rebellious, unwelcome visitor answer to Jesus Christ and submit to
His standards. (2 Cor. 10:4-6)
I decide how rapidly my transformation will occur as I
choose to destroy my way of thinking and replace it with His higher thoughts (Rom. 12:2, Isa. 55:8-9).
I must choose to allow His peace to keep my heart and mind
in Him, to allow His peace to rule in my heart as I fix my thoughts on Him, and to allow the Spirit to renew my thoughts and attitudes (Col. 3:15, Phil. 4:7, Eph. 4:22-24)
My conclusion then, is that it is not possible to remain on the
right path for an extended period of time without purifying my inner life. I
can obey authority, I can follow closely, and I can set up rules for myself,
but I have no power to make my thoughts and intentions pure without permitting
the water of His Word to cleanse me. I am incapable of genuine love for others
unless I am vigilant about His guidelines being my life compass.
So let’s keep at it as if our thoughts were on display – in reality, they will be!
Thoughts will
eventually form words, attitudes and actions…they will only remain hidden so
long.
Maybe they won’t be flashing across your forehead, but they will shape
your expression and your posture, season your speech, and determine your
decisions. Choose them carefully.
Philippians 4:8 – “And now, dear brothers and sisters,
one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right,
and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and
worthy of praise.”
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
By Jennifer Yakopin