My secret thoughts

Okay, so I am a day behind now. So today I am actually reading January 12th passages.
I find it interesting that Matthew 5:21-32 talk so much about our thoughts. Basically who we really are when no one is looking. Our thoughts show the true condition of our hearts. Sometimes I must admit that the thoughts that go through my mind startle me. I know that those thoughts are placed there by Satan. I have been intent this year about filling my life with things of God and removing the things that are not honoring to him. I have watched less television and have been listening to sermons or reading books that glorify his name. I have found that my thoughts have started to change to a desire to please him.
In the passage I read today it talked about anger, lust, and divorce. All of these areas deal with the mind. Jesus says that if you even think angry thoughts toward someone that it is the same as if you had committed an act of violence against them. He says the same thing about lust. Even the thought or intent of the heart, even if no action is taken, is the same as if we had done the act. Boy, is that convicting. I need to examine all my thoughts and see if they line up with God. It says that if our hand or eye commits these acts that we are to throw them away in the trash. What a mental picture. I think there is practical application here. We are to search our hearts, minds, and lives to see if there is anything that is causing us to fall in areas of sin, we need to weed them out and get rid of them. Spiritual spring cleaning for lack of a better phrase. But it should not end there. There is something known as the spiritual law of replacement. If we get rid of the things that are causing us to sin and yet do not replace it with anything we are left with a void. That void, if not filled with godly things, will fill up with things that stink and cause us to fall right back into those bad habits and sins. We HAVE to fill our minds with things above, if we do not then we WILL fall into the ways of the world. Ask me how I know this. It is from learning this hard lesson over and over again. I have determined this year to fill my mind with things of God and to find my joy and peace in Him. Basically to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

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