A Foundation for Thinking

This morning I am reflecting on verses from James' letter to the Twelve tribes of Israel, chapter three.  I like James' letter because he takes a practical look at the Christian walk, and counters some of the extreme positions that developed over time.  Here are the particular verses I am  reflecting on this morning - James 3:17-18 NIV:

[17] "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. [18] Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."

In these verses James is providing a counter to the other type of thinking, or wisdom,  that is common in the world, and calls that thinking bitter envy and selfish ambition. He is addressing those that might desire to follow the way and gives them a good list of internal checks to validate when their thoughts are in line with God's.

First off, he says that before all else the thoughts must be pure.  This is the foundational description, and all the others build upon it.  The Greek word used by James is Hagnos and it is defined as:

1. exciting reverence, venerable, sacred
2. pure
     a. pure from carnality, chaste, modest
     b. pure from every fault, immaculate
     c. clean

One gets a sense of what James is encouraging his fellow Christians, and former Jews to pursue, namely thinking like Jesus did.  Elsewhere in scripture it talks about how Jesus was fully human and tempted in every way we are, yet never sinned (Heb 4:15), and this would include His thoughts.  His thoughts were always holy and pure, and in this one characteristic, He set himself apart from all of mankind, for we, by our very nature tend towards selfish thoughts.  If we want to act like Jesus, we first of all need to think like Jesus.

I am reminded of the Seinfeld show where in one episode George decides to act in the exact opposite way than his natural instinct. This is similar to what James is encouraging his audience to do, to live and think in a way they normally do not.  The good news is that after a while, this becomes our default way of thinking, as we build a pattern of thought, modeled after the Lord.

I find this single area one in which the Lord has helped me significantly this past year. For years I struggled daily with my thought life, and at times it was a real battle. My issue was that there were so many thoughts that were clearly vain, selfish and brought forth by evil.  I didn't realize that I had given the enemy an open door to my mind, and was allowing him to have access to my mind where he could harass me and introduce all sorts of vain and selfish thoughts, and thoughts that were clearly sinful.

The Lord, in His great mercy, opened my eyes to this and showed me how to shut that door.  Since that time and through a couple of other personal revelations, I am much much more at peace in my thought life, and more often than not actually able to think pure thoughts.  It is wonderful being at peace internally!  I find that this allows me to more easily pursue being peace-loving, considerate, submissive, merciful, impartial and sincere in my thoughts and actions.

Lord, thank you for helping me to establish a firm foundation for my thought life, patterned after You.