As a Man Thinks

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart is not with you.” Proverbs 23:7

Long before the rattle of hammers and buzzing of saws come to a residential or commercial building site, the contractor has an architectural blueprint in hand. Pipes, nails, shingles, studs, joists, ceilings, rooms, windows - in essence, the entire finished product - merely follow the detailed rendering.

Our growth as Christians has this one striking similarity: Our measurable, visible behavior inevitably follows our mental blueprint. What we do - and what others see - is an expression of our internal mindset.

That is why Jesus said obviously identifiable acts - such as murder, theft, and adultery - stem from an inner evil. The thought precedes the act. Real change, thus, proceeds from the inside out - from our thinking to our living.

The world’s bent toward greed and self-protection must be abandoned. Our old habits that have cut deep thought patterns into our psychological and emotional grid systems can no longer be trusted.

Christ’s death for our sins makes possible not just a new destiny but a radically new outlook on all of life. Thus, our minds must be made wholly new each day. Such transformation begins, continues, and ends through the daily intake of God’s supernatural change-agent - divine truth.