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Thoughts Transformed, February 13
Finally, brethren, 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.
Philippians 4:8
.
We have each of us an individual work to do, to gird up the loins of our
minds, to be sober, to watch unto prayer. The mind must be firmly controlled
to dwell upon subjects that will strengthen the moral powers. The youth
should begin early to cultivate correct habits of thought. We should discipline
the mind to think in a healthful channel, and not permit it to dwell upon things
that are evil. The psalmist exclaims, “Let the words of my mouth, and the
meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and
my redeemer” (
Psalm 19:14
).
As God works upon the heart by His Holy Spirit, man must cooperate
with Him. The thoughts must be bound about, restricted, withdrawn from
branching out and contemplating things that will only weaken and defile the
soul. The thoughts must be pure, the meditations of the heart must be clean,
if the words of the mouth are to be words acceptable to heaven, and helpful to
your associates. Christ said to the Pharisees, “O generation of vipers, how can
ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth
forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil
things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt
be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (
Matthew 12:34-37
).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ presented before His disciples the
far-reaching principles of the law of God. He taught His hearers that the law
was transgressed by the thoughts before the evil desire was carried out in
actual commission. We are under obligation to control our thoughts, and to
bring them into subjection to the law of God.—
The Review and Herald, June
12, 1888
.
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