What We Allow Ourselves to "Think" Is What We Become ... What We Are

Common Sense Commentary: "...Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Phil.4:8.

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them the ability to think and imagine.  Imagination is a vital part of the thinking process. When we think, we can visualize or picture the things we are thinking about. Imagination is a good thing ... if our thoughts are of good things. God's word challenges us to think and visualise  and even imagine good things. Of course we must be aware of and face the bad things which happen, but we can deal with evil, cruelty, sin and sickness best by a positive approach. There is a time to war, fight, even kill an evil enemy, and do those things with positive and even good thoughts, and still be in God's will. God often sent out the armies of Israel or a single "David" to fight and kill an evil Giant or an evil army. And God's word alludes to such times in all of our lives. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up... A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." Ecc.3:1-8. 

You see, if our hearts are right with God and we are intent upon obeying Him and serving Him to the greatest of our ability, we can even go out and fight the Hitlers, Stalins, Castros, Ayatollah Khomeinis, Nazis, Communists, Religious Fanatics and terrorists of this world...not to mention rapists, thieves, drug pushers and corrupt politicians. They are all the representatives of Satan. Jesus said of such evil men and causes ...."Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him...." Jn.8:44.

The people, in the pre-flood days of Noah, had yielded to their wicked thoughts so completely that their every thought and imagination was corrupted to the point they were hopeless before God.... "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually". Gen.6:5. So He destroyed them all except a small remnant of believers. After the flood it wasn't long before the descendants of the flood survivors were letting their evil imaginations  take control of their minds as did their forefathers. "And the LORD said .... "and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." Gen.11:6. 

In our thoughts of accomplishment, vacations, new cars and infatuations, the reality of the fulfillment of a thing is seldom as satisfying as the imagination and anticipation of it. Even sin may be satisfying for a few seconds, but long term peace and satisfaction only results from good thoughts, good actions and good accomplishments.

Every important action and accomplishment whether good or bad, begins as a seed of thought which grows into an imagination, and then a preoccupation of anticipation. No man can prevent bad thoughts entirely, but every man can prevent the thought from becoming an evil fantasy of imagination ... by yielding those sinful thoughts into the hands of God ... in prayer. Only God can neutralize evil thoughts. But if not dealt with in the thought stage, they will soon grow, like a cancer, into a preoccupation fantasy, and that into a sinful action, and that into a habit, and that into a life-time, and that into a grave and beyond into eternity.

I once heard an old preacher say, You may not be able to stop an evil bird of sinful thought from flying through your mind, but you can stop it from building a nest there.... with God's help. To allow ourselves to "dwell" on evil thoughts leads to destruction and death. You may not be what you think you are, but what you "think" .... you are. RB