June 10, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

John 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Once again we see that thoughts are not always right. Years ago I was sitting on a plane in El Paso. The plane was still at the gate and the preflight announcements were being monotonously repeated by the flight attendant. I was sleepy and was just about to doze off when I heard someone saying something about enjoying the trip to Houston. I immediately became wide awake, something was wrong. I was not flying to Houston; I was flying back to Dallas. I asked the person next to me where he was going, he said, “Houston.”  The door was just about to be shut and I called out, “Wait a minute! I am on the wrong plane!”  

You may think I was embarrassed. No, I was too scared to care what people thought, I didn’t care about obeying the seat belt rule, I didn’t care about the other passengers, I only cared about getting off that plane and getting on the one I was supposed to be on, the one going to Dallas. Fortunately it was not too late, they let me off the plane and I found the right aircraft and made it home to DFW. I thought I was on the right plane but my thought was wrong. Once I learned my thought was wrong I didn’t care about anything other than getting on the right plane.

Many times I have thought about this little episode. There are times in life where we wake up and realize we are on the wrong plane, or the wrong path, or have the wrong thoughts on a matter. When this happens to you, don’t focus on that which people will think about you, or be concerned with looking foolish, just do all that you need to do to get on the right plane. Each and every person who comes to Christ for salvation has had a similar experience. They realized they were on the wrong plane, altered their belief system, trusted Christ and found a seat on the right plane.

Jesus dealt kindly, considerately, and skillfully with those who harbored wrong thoughts, and so should we. Also, we should always check and double check that we too have the correct thoughts about those things of which we are so self-assured.

May the Lord bless and be pleased with your thought life today.

Dr. William T. Howe