Think With And On Purpose

“For his invisible attributes,

namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have

been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,

in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God,

they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,

but they became futile in their thinking,

and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Romans 1:20-21

Our third spiritual “must” is that we must be purposeful and intentional in our thinking.

Futile thinking caused those in Romans 1 to exchange truth for a lie. Needless to say, we want to avoid that. “Futile” is the Greek ματαιόω mataióō – to render foolish, i.e. wicked or idolatrous:—become vain. Has the enemy been spinning a web of wrong, profitless thinking in your mind? Our own flesh can keep our thoughts pretty pointless. But the Spirit of the living God gives us the mind of Christ for our good and for the profit of His Kingdom. 

Let’s put some effort into this thing by heeding our first two spiritual musts: glorify God and be thankful. Let’s capture every futile thought and replace it with truth from God’s Word. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says,

“We destroy arguments

and every lofty opinion

raised against the knowledge of God,

and take every thought captive

to obey Christ…”

Left untended, our minds can wander to who knows where. We want to be sure that our minds don’t wander from the safety of truth.  Let’s intentionally obey Philippians 4:8,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is just,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable,

if there is any excellence,

if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.”