Photo by Hc Digital on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? Matthew 9:4
No one is exempt. We are all born broken and separated from God. Evil comes naturally to us. We are born into it. As we grow and reach adulthood, we cultivate a sinful lifestyle, following the example of those who brought us up. Jeremiah spoke the truth when he asked this rhetorical question,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
The asker always knows the answer to his own rhetorical question.
I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:10
God knows what we are thinking. Jesus knew what the scribes were thinking when He forgave the paralytic his sins and healed him. They called Jesus words blasphemy. Jesus called them evil for those thoughts.
When we don’t know Christ we are best described by Romans 3:10-18, which details the ways we are evil in our lost state. No one is good enough to get to heaven on their own merits. Jesus is the only way.
When we accept Christ as our Savior we replace evil thoughts in our heart with the Holy Spirit. However, when we sin, doubt, and lose our faith for God’s provisions we are guilty of evil thoughts in our heart. But, as a child of God we can ask God to forgive our sins, ease our doubts, and increase our faith. God loves us and He yearns for us to come to Him in repentance from sin and seeking to draw closer to Him in our times of need.
Paul warns us to live in the Spirit and put the flesh to death. Jesus commanded we take up our cross and follow Him. Both are referring to the same thing. Just as Jesus was crucified on a cross for our sins, we are also to nail our sinful self to the cross, so the Spirit is free to flow in us and work through us to further God’s kingdom.
When struggling to lay a sin down, whether it is a habit, an addiction, or a fleshly desire we aren’t willing to relinquish, it is best to think before acting. We don’t desire for Jesus to constantly ask why we have evil thoughts in our hearts. Renew the Holy Spirit, day by day, in prayer and Bible reading.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8
God stands at the ready to wipe those evil thoughts away.
Contemplation: What evil thoughts still flow through my heart and mind that I need to surrender to Christ?
