WAR WITHIN! The experience of distracting thoughts is not of itself comforting – in fact it is disruptive and discomfiting. Of course, this is only true of those who are devoted to productive thoughts – thoughts that center in the Lord and His great salvation. It is said of the wicked, "God is NOT in all his thoughts" (Psa 10:4). These devotions make no sense to such a person, and they are NOT directed to such. The man or woman of God readily confesses, "O LORD, how great are Thy works! and Thy THOUGHTS are very deep" (Psa 92:5). Such thoughts draw the heart of those who love the Lord, and challenge their cognitive powers. When the saved are THINKING about eternal things, they confess with David, "In the multitude of my THOUGHTS within me Thy comforts delight my soul" (Psa 94:19). -- Tomorrow:
Devotion 22 of 23
DISTRACTING THOUGHTS
Those who walk in the light can identify with David's articulation concerning unproductive thoughts – thoughts that pull the soul into the quagmire of alienation. "I hate vain THOUGHTS: but Thy law do I love" (Psa 119:113). But there is a domain of contemplation that brings great delight to the spiritually sensitive soul. "How precious also are Thy THOUGHTS unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psa 139:17). When the sanctified mind traffics in heavenly places, the words of Solomon are fulfilled: "The THOUGHTS of the righteous are right" (Prov 12:5).
Those who do not think like God must abandon their thoughts. It is written, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his THOUGHTS: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My THOUGHTS are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My THOUGHTS than your THOUGHTS" (Isa 55:7-9).
Right here we uncover the weakness of the average American Christian – thinking. Flawed thinking is the mother of all division, contention, and sectarianism. It is what leads to iniquity, and keeps one enslaved to it. What a person thinks about Jesus Christ is the basis for both salvation and condemnation, for believing has much to do with how a person thinks.
Our text is providing the response of a person of disciplined spiritual thinking to the intrusion of unwanted vain thoughts. They may take the form of a fleeting and unexpected notion that pops into the mind at the most unusual time. Satan may hurl them into our minds in dreams, or when our eyes are inadvertently directed toward things that provoke degenerate thinking. Such thoughts are repulsive – not because there is a commandment against them, but because the "new man" is repelled by them. They contradict the focus of the thinking of the redeemed ones. They appeal to a nature that those who are in Christ have "crucified" (Gal 5:24).
When such unlawful thoughts occur, we are not to think that this of itself parallels the teaching of Romans seven. The point of identification therewith is the CONFLICT of the thoughts with our basic desires and aspirations. We do not abhor them simply because they are not proper. They contradict our natures. They conflict with our primary desires. They distract us from our objectives. That is the experience delineated in Romans 7.
Paul says that the "other law" within his members brings him "into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." He does not mean that he is captured by sin and forced to transgress the law of God. He is not describing the consistent pattern of his life, or the majority of his experience. He is describing the exception, not the rule. Sin, however, is so repugnant to the righteous, that the occurrence of a thought that demands a militant response is viewed as a "captivity." That is so because he cannot keep it from occurring. The person is pulled aside from the things he loves in order to do battle with something he hates. It is like David, preferring to be in the house of the Lord, yet having to do battle with the Philistines, Moabites, or Syrians (2 Sam 8).
This is the apostolic way of saying that the flesh cannot be controlled. It cannot be tamed, or caused to volunteer for service to the Lord. There is only one alternative. It must be crucified! Further, the flesh is willing to do anything but die. Nevertheless, the flesh must die – we must "mortify the deeds of the body" (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5)! Would God the degree of sensitivity to sin manifested by Paul was more prominent in our time! However, wherever it is found, Romans seven becomes a sweet elixir of comfort.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for holy desires and preferences. I know you have worked in me to will, as well as to do.