November 7, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Hebrews 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

The good old days were not always so good. Sometimes however, God’s people begin to think about their life without Christ. How easy it was then, no church obligation, no pushing yourself to read your Bible or pray, no preacher encouraging you to live for others and spend time in service to the Lord, no internal strife over sin, no stigma that is associated with witnessing, for those without Christ have none of these issues. But to those who have accepted Jesus Christ, those who have experienced the new birth, those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, these are battles. The battle rages between the flesh and the spirit. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other.

The writer of Hebrews warns if one is not careful, one may look back on days before their new birth in Christ and desire to return. We sometimes forget the Bible truth that …the way of transgressors is hard (Proverbs 13:15). Our minds become full of the “good old days” and we forget the hardships that accompanied sin: the conviction, the guilt, the fear, the worry, and the continual terror of dying.

There have been many who returned to that life before Christ. The Israelites desired to return to Egypt, but they didn’t. Many believers today have returned to the life they had before Christ only to find misery and misfortune. Some may say this is impossible. If this backsliding (so called) is impossible, then why are there so many warnings in the New Testament about it? Yes, many return to the country from whence they came out. The writer of Hebrews tells us that if those to whom the promises of God were given (Abraham and his seed) became mindful of their past’s country then they may have found a way to return.

To guard yourself from returning to the excess of riot (I Peter 4:4) that you once gave yourself to, be careful not to be mindful (or full of mind) of that old life. After all, those good old days weren’t really all that good!

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

Dr. William Howe