The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“To Think Rightly”
Every sin ever committed by the human race has originated in pride, namely, we believe our chosen unbelief and disobedience to be more beneficial to us than the will of God. We don’t think of it these terms as we commit the act. The hidden root of sin nevertheless lies in the deception long ago communicated by Satan in the garden of Eden:
“Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The devil who originated such darkness tempted Eve (and Adam through Eve) to believe created beings could think for themselves. Nothing could have been further from the truth, both then and now. God did not make us to know all, or to know what can be known by our own independent thinking. He rather beckons us to look unto Him in order to be enlightened, viewing our brains and their marvelous thinking capacities as primarily His milieu (Psalm 34:6). Solomon stated the matter clearly:
“Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ must realize and affirm that our hearts and minds exist to serve as the scene of the Holy Spirit’s illuminating presence. We seek to think from His active moving in the interior regions of our being, trusting Him to lead us in what we think and how we think. No matter is more important in the life of the Christian. We can use our minds for no better purpose than to form frequent requests such as prayed by the Psalmist: “Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5).
We actively use our minds. “With all thy getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). We “lean not” on them, however. We rather seek to “in all thy ways acknowledge Him,” a challenge impossible to fulfill apart from His guidance and enabling. We do not just decide to think rightly, a notion that itself reveals how prone we are to poor thinking. We rather seek our Lord’s promised grace to confirm thoughts of truth, and correct thoughts of error. There will be many of both in a world that “lieth in wickedness,” but which also offers the light of God as revealed by the Spirit of God (I John 5:19; 1:4;9). The Psalmist prayed accordingly. We close with his wise thoughts, led and inspired by the Holy Spirit…
“Search me, o God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Psalm 139:23-24)
Weekly Memory Verse
“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.”
(Exodus 1:12)
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