Minding Your Thoughts
A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life
Jeremiah 51:50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
There are words we use every day without any real understanding of what they mean. For example, take the word “let.” This is a powerful, powerful word. Its literal meaning is “to permit; to allow; to suffer; to give leave or power by a positive act, or negatively, to withhold restraint; not to prevent.” (Webster’s 1828) This is not a simple word to be used with little thought, for it is a powerful word. God says through Jeremiah the prophet, …let Jerusalem come into your mind. In other words, the Lord is saying to permit something in your mind, allow something in your mind, or by a positive act give approval for something to enter the mind.
This means that we have God given power over the thoughts that enter our mind. We can let something enter, and we can refuse to let something enter. The choice is ours. A person can have power over their own mind unless there is a diagnosable issue hindering such. In which case, please get help from a mental health professional. But anyone with a healthy mind can control that which enters into their mind, God’s Word says so.
Throughout the totality of Scripture there are things God tells us to remember and things God tells us to forget. Things we should allow into our mind and things that we should not allow into our mind. This is our freedom, this is our right, and this is a gift from God to you. If good healthy thoughts, right thoughts, wholesome thoughts are let in by their very nature they can block unwanted thoughts from entering. Training one’s mind in this area takes discipline, time, and a strong will. In today’s verse God commands His people to let Jerusalem come into their mind. Remember Jerusalem! It would be like today God saying to remember past answered prayer, or your salvation experience, or some great Bible truth having been learned. Remember these things, for they can be a hedge against doubt, despair, and/or discouragement.
Some believe in the power of positive thinking to an unbiblical extreme. This is not that. Just because something is believed does not cause it to come to pass. No doubt positive thinking has many good benefits. Setting goals, establishing the proper action steps to accomplish those goals, and putting the energy (work) to carry out those action steps can assist anyone in accomplishing great things. If and only if it is well within the purview of God’s will, for as is clearly seen in the attempt to build the tower of Babel, when God stops something, it is stopped. No amount of positive thinking overrides God’s power of veto.
Letting some thought in the mind or stopping some thought from entering the mind is a power in and unto itself. Learning to control the thoughts of the mind is a lifelong endeavor. Just know this. Since God’s Word says …let Jerusalem come into your mind. It means that there is a power available to let something in the mind, and on the flipside, to let something not come into mind. Learn to use this power, it will help keep a healthy mind.
May the Lord Bless and be pleased with your thought life today.
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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