November 15, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Luke 10:36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

The priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan? Of course it was the Samaritan; we commonly call him the Good Samaritan. He was the one that was the neighbour to the man left on the street stripped, wounded and half dead. The answer was clear, neither of the other two lifted a finger to help this man, in fact they went out of their way to make sure to not be involved. When Jesus asked the question as worded above there was only one honest response: the Samaritan.

I once worked with a man who was a terrific magician. He could do some unbelievable things; of course they were all tricks. He had this card trick that he would do that never failed. With nimble and quick hands he would shuffle the deck then fan them out while holding them in his hands. While doing this the man would ask someone if they would pick a card, “Pick a card, any card.”  All the while the cards were being fanned face side down between his two hands. If the person did not pick the card immediately he would reshuffle and fan them between his hands again. They would pick a card and a convoluted series of questions would begin. “What did you have for breakfast?”  “What color car do you drive?” “Is your house two story?”  “How many brothers or sisters do you have?”  These questions had no rhyme or reason to them; they were obscure and totally unrelated to a deck of cards. Then this magician would announce the card, or pull out a piece of paper from a zipped up wallet in his pocket, or by some other amazing way the card the person picked would be revealed.

The trick was simple. As he would fan the deck he would push out a certain card, then he would block all of the other cards with his fingers thereby, sort of forcing the person to only choose the card he wanted them to choose. If he passed by that card he would stumble, drop a card, or somehow distract with a story or sudden thought; he had many tactics to recover, reshuffle and fan through the deck once again. The person would always, always, choose the card he wanted them to choose. As he shuffled the deck he always knew where that one card was.

The Lord asked a question that obviously only had one correct answer. This is a very effective communication method. It puts the other person into a decision making position, although there is really no decision to be made at all. Lawyers use this tactic all the time. The problem with it is that so few understand when it is being employed. They sometimes answer only to find out later they were tricked. While the Lord used this method for good however, many use it today for nefarious means.

Be careful when asked a question, especially when the answer is obvious, it may not be as obvious or innocent as it appears.

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

Dr. William Howe