Honest Motives Before GodSýnishorn

Free Motives

While the Lord wants us to discipline our thoughts and deal with sin in the realm of our mind, it is important to know that we are not responsible for every idea we have. Not every thought that comes to our mind is ours. Therefore, every thought that flashes through our mind does not make us guilty.

The German reformer Martin Luther put it this way, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” Just because a thought slashes through your mind, does not mean that you took hold of it. It does not mean that you agreed with it or cherished it. It certainly does not mean that you acted on it.

When we have thoughts running through our minds that are wicked. What do we do? We mortify them. The Bible says that God’s Word is a weapon. It is a sword. So, we take the sword of the Spirit and fight the evil thought with it. First, we tell the wicked thought that it is not true. It does not matter where the idea came from. It could be demonic or could have originated in our flesh. The bottom line is that it is a sinful thought. We identify it as sin, and we treat it as sin. What do we with sin? We refuse it.

However, if we sin, we need to repent of it. In other words, if we accept an evil thought and cherish it for a time, we need to repent. Sometimes, thoughts take hold of us and cause us to commit a sinful act. For example, a person can have an angry thought and argue with the spouse because of it. If we act on a selfish thought, then we need to confess it and repent of it. We need to turn away from that thought and reconcile with the person who was involved. This is an ongoing battle with sin that we as Christians fight every day.

Nevertheless, once we repent of our sinful thoughts or actions, the Bible tells us that we are forgiven. We should not live in condemnation. The Scripture says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. In our Savior, we are free children of God. As long as we submit our lives to the Lord, we are free to have desires and to act on our motives. God gives us freedom in honoring Him with the motives of our hearts.

This devotional was inspired by an episode of the Straight Truth Podcast. You can listen to the episode at this link: https://straighttruth.net/honest-motives-before-god/