Biblically speaking, my thoughts are like my eyes: I may not be able to entirely control everything they see, but I can certainly control whether they continue to look. Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God (1 Chri. 22:19). If I can set my mind on something, I can certainly take it off something else.
What do you think when you hear “thought life” or “life of the mind”? This doesn’t seem to be a phrase unique to the Christian world. Lots of research is going into learning what goes on between our ears. But it doesn’t surprise us that God’s Word instructs us often on this part of our being. In this post, I’d like to lay out a Biblical foundation for thinking about the life of the mind.
First, our thought life matters. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5) Our thought life matters because God cares about it, because He designed our thoughts to be an integral part of our personhood. Here in Genesis six, we see how disastrous and evil thoughts can be (see also Isa. 59:7 and 66:18). Because they’re so important, God pays attention to them: often we’re reminded that He tests our hearts and minds (Jer. 11:20; 17:10; 20:12). You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. (Ps. 139:2) Not only does God pay attention to our thoughts, He cares about them! Paul makes this clear: But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his dunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3) Despite what you may have heard or observed in American Christianity, your mind matters!
