Walking with the Wise #113: Transforming Thoughts

“The thoughts of the righteous are just;
 

the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.” 

—Proverbs 12:5 

Coming to Christ means that our entire life is transformed. He begins transforming everything. As C.S. Lewis so eloquently wrote,

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself”—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

God transforms us. And He transforms us through His Word. The more we meditate on God’s Word, the more it becomes part of us—directing our thoughts, shaping our attitudes, and changing our behavior. But the wicked do not have that ability. Without renewed hearts, they are imprisoned and blinded by the enemy.  As Paul wrote,

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus”—Romans 2:14-16.

Jeremiah said that our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). And for the wicked, who do not have the spirit of God to free them from their sin, they are chained to their sin. Only Christ can free us, only Christ can transform us. When Jesus saves us, He gives us the right to become God’s children (John 1:12), and as God’s children who have the Holy Spirit inside of us (cf. Galatians 4:6), we can call out to God and we can be assured that He hears us (cf. 1 John 5:14).

But, we must make sure that as God’s children, we continually seek Him so that we might not be hardened by the deceitful nature of the sin which we will still have until the day that we die or when Jesus takes us to be with Himself. And we do this by the renewing of our minds (cf. Romans 12:1-2) and washing our minds through the cleansing Word of God.

Have you been hardened by the deceitful nature of sin? Have you been renewing your mind so that you might be able to discern God’s will? Know that whatever you’ve done, God will forgive the worst of it. And He will transform and use you for His glory so that His name might be shown through you and so that you might experience the joy for which you were made—knowing and glorying Him. Amen.