A warning about lies and wrong thoughts

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12)

Some young men believe that unless they don’t do drugs they won’t get accepted into their friend circle. This causes them to sin a lot. Doesn’t matter if a man doesn’t have drugs, there are always other people who don’t want drug addicts as their friends. It’s better to have no friends than be stuck in prison for the rest of your lives.

Then there are young girls who are convinced that unless they don’t wear indecent clothes, they won’t be popular in college. But the thing is that in college academics are the main thing and not popularity. In fact you can have zero popularity and still get the best marks.

There are industrialists who will think of lying about their products and the manner in which they are made. These are secretly living in fear about the consequences which includes time in prison and loss of money if it were found that they produced the goods in far away lands in the most inhuman conditions for their workers out there. It’s better to have lesser profits than to risk your reputation.

There are also people who believe that suicide will reduce their pain and finally people will pay attention to them. Just a second after their suicide unfortunately they will not be found in heaven nor in any place where they are valued. Instead they should say no to suicide and live to find the answers to their troubles.

To anyone and everyone reading this, do take every effort to identify any such mindset and thought process which is from the Devil and which doesn’t actually lead to life but death. Don’t hesitate to pray to God to counsel and correct your thought process before damage happens. In fact don’t head to towards eternal life but away from the light of Christ, where there is darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Change any such unhelpful thinking with wise and wholesome thinking for the glory of God

 

 

Use pleasant words whenever you can

All praise to the Lord Jesus the Word of God who is all wise and humble and gracious to those who seek him in spirit and in truth. Glory to the Lord God the giver of all that is eternally good and eternally enduring. Thanks be to God for sending the Holy Spirit to lead us in all truth.

As the world which is away from the truth by the Lord God above you will notice its impurity in what it speaks. The movies keep getting more and more obscene and words in them likewise. What was unacceptable about 40 years ago in the movies is passed of contemporary language these days. More worse is, when they make the children use hideous profanity on-screen. And the worldly literature or what passes off as literature, has many books and articles which contain most shallow and foul-mouthed words. And depending on the reader groups the writer’s cater to, the vile words they use can be outright rude or willfully subtle. What a fallen world indeed!

O people of the Lord God, who call yourself by the name of the Lord do not fall into the world’s slime lest you become a part of it. Stay pure for the sake of the Lord. Practice wisdom in your thoughts, words and actions, so that all people who see you give glory to the Lord, and not find an occasion to slander Jesus Christ the Son of God, on account of your bad behaviour!

Today I write about speaking words that are pleasant.  This is going to be simple but effective if you put it into practice. I break it down into three things; thoughts, words and timing.

Thoughts when speaking

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure. (Proverbs 15:26)

What use is it to speak kind words to another when you have deceit in your heart? Have clear and pure thoughts that are presentable to the Lord God when you speak to anyone. For the Lord knows the heart of man. Many vile murderers and fraudsters have all the wrong thoughts though they may use pleasant words when luring their victims to death and loss. Be not like them all. Hate, pride, malice, jealousy, greed, deceit and the like are not the type of thoughts you should expect to be acceptable to the Lord God. And just imagine a seller, trying to be most polite to a prospective buyer, when trying to convince him to buy his house, but inwardly thinks the buyer is too dumb to buy the house. And then either by slip of tongue or by a gossiping servant of the seller the prospective buyer know the true mind of the seller. Then wouldn’t that buyer call off the deal before the sale is made? The seller may suffer losses financially and reputationally but what’s more dangerous is at the end of his or her life he is answerable to God.

So even before you speak pleasant words to others don’t have foolish motives but genuine respect and wisdom when doing so.

The words spoken

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Proverbs 16:24)

When you have the right intentions why not speak the right words as well? Have the words that are truly acceptable in the presence of the Lord God. I can suggest a few such combinations as the following but do take due diligence and time to find more such words; thank you, please can I, that’s very kind of you, have a great day/weekend, good effort etc. There are people who have the right thoughts but fumble at speaking the right kinds of words that are actually pleasant. A word of advice to such people, God knows your heart when you speak so don’t give up on your good thoughts but please by all means do surely try to improve on the pleasant words you speak. In all humility, even if you are an adult take time to go through books or articles which suggest more gracious words. Be gracious as Jesus Christ when speaking to the poor, widows and orphans etc, for Jesus, never mocked the afflicted but spoke words kind and fully consistent with his Divine calling from the Lord’ so that people received their healing in mind, body and spirit.

So even as you speak use words that are actually pleasant and consistent with the wisdom of the Word of God.

The timing of the pleasant words

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. (Proverbs 25:11-12)

Doesn’t it makes sense to have the right thoughts and words when its the right time to do so, rather than the wrong time? At funerals people cry out for their deceased loves ones in deep sorrow. Indeed what grief is there especially at the death of a parent or a young baby! It’s important to express your emotions at this stage. However coming to the point, I’ve seen people speak so well of their parents, when for most part of their life, they would neglect their parents or even speak rudely to them. Such is the tragedy of life, that  these very people are filled with remorse now want to talk good but the person who they are talking about is longer with them. If only such people could  make that time to wish their parent’s all things pleasant while they were still alive. It’s important to speak pleasantly to your loved one’s all the time for you don’t generally know the time of life and death. And when talking to people who are not relatives be it co-workers, government staff etc be sensible and alert enough to speak pleasant words at the right time. Because people can find a person who is pleasant for the sake of it at the wrong time, very repulsive! It’s very risky to thank your manager for helping you avoid the mandatory overtime (due to your illness), in the middle of a meeting with a delegation of clients who take pleasure in dumping loads of work over to all. You can instead thank him or her when such demanding clients are totally away from you both, if you get what I mean.

So always speak kindly to your relatives and loved one’s and speak in due time to the rest, so that you are truly wise steward of the time your Lord God has given you.

 

Every person can be identified by their fruits

⁴³ “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴ for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)

Every person can identified as to what they really stand for by observing their words and actions too. Inward thoughts of a person eventually show up in the way they behave sooner or later. A person who fakes his love for classical music can try to hide his intentions. But when someone asks him about Mozart or Beethoven being the latest new entrants to rap music, he might not know what to do. He might actually say yes he even heard a few of the rap concerts. That’s exactly when he can be told that these men were of the past centuries and actually had more to do with classical music than anything else. A person genuinely interested in classical music will not need to be told much. He will by himself research classical music, try to sing or play the notes on his musical instruments etc.

My point is; genuine actions follow the genuine intentions of the heart and false actions follow the false intentions of the heart. The Lord God is the greatest expert in knowing who is right and who is almost right and who is entirely wrong. He has established wisdom and counsel from of old and knows how to render to each one as per their works.

⁵ The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.⁶ The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them. (Proverbs 12:5-6)

²² Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. (Proverbs 12:22)

The Holy Scriptures should be our standard by which we examine ourselves first and even others later on. Anyone willing to be humble enough to read, pray and accept the Word of God, should not find its standards too difficult to follow. We simply observe our actions and thoughts and correct them if wrong. And we continue with them if they are acceptable to the Lord. While for others and their thoughts and actions, we can be on guard from being influenced by them or correct them.

 

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Surrender your thoughts to the Lord Jesus

Every person on earth has thoughts. Thoughts are of various flavors. They could be of joy, nostalgia, thrills, beauty, creativity etc. They could also be dark thoughts such as fear, greed, death etc. Some thoughts make you feel free while others put you in a box.

You will continue to have thoughts all through your life. What you make of them is what really matters.

The choice of what you think is totally up to you. You can think great things for the glory of God or you think like the rest of the world who do not focus on Christ. Make the better choice, always.

Now there could a few things that you think of but don’t understand. You might face thoughts of fear. You may have thoughts anxiety about the unknown future. Let me tell you that not just the past and the present even the future belongs to the Lord Jesus. Jesus is Lord of time because he holds the times and seasons in his hands.

When you are getting any thought that’s tempting you to sin bring it to the feet of Jesus. Say to Jesus that you surrender all thoughts of sin that you are facing unto him. Do it in faith.

Don’t entertain thoughts of anxiety. Repel all thoughts of suicide and be very brave Don’t keep worrying. Surrender such thoughts to Jesus who gives life and peace. Remember what the Holy Scriptures say.

1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Psalms 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

What about good thoughts? Don’t just think good thoughts. Surrender them to Jesus as well. The Lord loves to hear when his children tell him their good thoughts. Make your prayers and petitions known to him. The Lord will lead you in all wisdom and truth who makes all things beautiful in his time.