October 12, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

Isaiah is setting forth the plight of sinners, describing them in no uncertain terms. At the end of the chapter the prophet reminds all who read that there is a Redeemer that will come to Zion; of course, that Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ. Of these sinners Isaiah says that …their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity…. From outward to inward and from inward to outward sinners are sinful. Not only are their deeds sinful; their mind is sinful, full of iniquity.

Think on this thought for a moment. Each and every person has thoughts, of this there is no doubt. We have no choice in that we have thoughts; the healthy mind of each individual is filled with thoughts. However, the nature of those thoughts can be controlled. Many times, my wife asks me, “What are you thinking?”  I used to say “nothing,” but I came under conviction about that answer because it was not based on truth. Now I say, “A thousand things, but nothing in particular,” or something to that effect.

Our minds are capable of many thoughts, sometimes we want to share them, sometimes we don’t, sometimes we understand them, sometimes we don’t, sometimes they are clear and definite, and sometimes they are unclear and confusing. Thoughts cannot be turned off, but they can be controlled.

Isaiah said of the sinful that …their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity…. It is easy to assume that before any iniquity is ever participated in it has already been thought about over and over and over again. This is where the line of defense is to be drawn, in the thought life before those thoughts take on a life of their own in sinful actions.

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

Dr. William Howe