October 2, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Psalm 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

The view of the Psalmist is purely one of earthly activity. Upon death a man’s ability to think perishes. However, there is ample Scriptural evidence that some thoughts do transcend the grave. It would take a small book or at least a pamphlet to consider all the various aspects of one’s thought life in light of the grave and eternity. Perhaps if the Lord leads one day that booklet may be written, but today consider this one thought.

The Psalmist is warning those who read, or hear this song, that mankind should not put their trust in man. In verse three he writes, Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. I say this Psalmist’s only view is earthly as evidenced by the term son of man. In the Old Testament the term son of man is used 108 times, only once is it used as a proper noun (Daniel 7:13, in Daniel’s vision referencing the coming Messiah). In the New Testament the term is used 85 times, only once is it not a proper noun (Hebrews 2:6). Of course, “Son of Man” is a proper noun used only for Christ. In Psalm 146 it is used as a generic term for any human man.

The one thought for today is that the physical thought process ends upon the time of death. Whatever we are going to do to please God with our thought life must be done now, today, in this life. For now, we do this by faith, but then, in eternity, our thought life will be based upon seeing that which is now invisible. And that thought my dear reader will have to be explained in the forthcoming book on thinking beyond the grave. If the Lord wills.

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

Dr. William Howe