What are you thinking????

Thanksgiving, or any other holiday time when families get together, seems to always offer an opportunity for a walk down memory lane.  Now if your siblings are at all like mine, we have realized that we don't always remember each story exactly the same way!
Just this week I was reminding my sisters of how often we would "play" Gilligan's Island.  You see we watched the show almost every day, and we would then recreate our favorite scenes.  There were three of us... so Carolyn, the eldest sister, chose her character first.  And, yes of course, she got to be Ginger.  I was second, so I opted for the fun-loving Mary Anne.  Sharon was probably the ripe 'ole age of 5 or 6, so she made the perfect Mrs. Howell!  :)  I think I remember us trying to find her a fancy hat to help convince her that Mrs. Howell was a great character to play.
One of our favorite episodes was when the islanders ate some berries from a certain bush and realized they could read each others' minds.  The effect was great fun at first... and then they begin to "hear" what everyone else was thinking - it was a hilarious episode and memorable, for sure.
So we began to mimic the actions from the show.  We used M & M's as berries, and then the fun began.  We would think the thought, then the other would "read" the thought... no words, of course, and then the reaction of indignation would come.  We "knew" the thought must be hurtful or unkind, so we retaliated with a "worse" thought, so then the other would react accordingly.  Still no words, but I can tell you our faces and our hands on our hips were telling.  Can you see the picture?  It makes me giggle even now.

Truth is that God knows our thoughts even before we think them.  Not sure whether that brings me comfort or challenge or maybe even shame.  Luke 6:45 says this,

  A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

So what is in my heart... and how does/did it get there??  What is in my heart is what I put in my brain through my eyes, through my ears, which comes right back out through my mouth.  Psalm 119 tells us, "Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you [God]."

2 Corinthians 10:5 reminds us that: 

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets 

itself up against the knowledge of God, and we 

take captive every thought

to make it obedient to Christ.

I simply have to know HIM and know HIS word so that I can build that treasury in my heart... so that I know what arguments and pretensions set themselves against my knowledge of God... so that I can take that thought captive... before the thought become a word or an action or even "just" a thought that lingers in my mind in disobedience to Christ...

So, grab a handful of M & M's, and let's think about our own thoughts... I prefer the red ones!  :) Oh, yeah, and grab your Bible, so we build our treasury as we go!!!