Right Thinking – Part 2

What does it mean to have ‘right (correct) thinking’ as opposed to having wrong (incorrect) thinking? Can right thinking enable us to know what is true in the world? Is there a standard for right thinking that we can hold to which then offers a dependable measure against which we can compare everything we understand? The answer to these questions is that there is a way for us to understand what right thinking is, and to then apply it in every area of our lives. Right thinking is obtained by seeking after God through reading, hearing, comprehending and applying the Word of God.

Why is it so important for us to develop right thinking? Look at it this way; how would you feel about travelling in a plane, thousands of feet in the air and moving along at hundreds of miles an hour, if the engineers who designed and built that plane used wrong thinking? Not only would it be foolish to trust in that wrong thinking, it would be disastrous!

How about being in a hospital with a deadly systemic infection? There are antibiotics available which would help kill the bacteria causing your illness, but the dosing of many of them are based upon your height, weight, kidney function and other important information. What do you think would happen if the doctors prescribing that antibiotic used wrong thinking? Not only would it be foolish to trust in that wrong thinking, it would be disastrous!

If these situations are important enough to use right thinking to achieve helpful, successful results regarding earthly and temporary things, how much more important is it to use right thinking in eternal matters? It’s not only important – it’s critical.

The people of the world keep getting into trouble because they repeatedly employ wrong thinking. Their thoughts are based on faulty information, faulty processes, assumptions based on inaccurate facts or any combination of these. The simple fact is that they get into trouble because they are ignorant of (or worse, they reject) God’s Word. They don’t have the proper foundation.

People are lost and need a Savior, which is clearly shown in God’s Word. Should they hear the gospel they are then given the opportunity to learn from God how provision has been made to correct that problem. This is also clearly shown in God’s Word. So then, why do people who have heard the Word fail to receive salvation? It’s because they continue to retain wrong thinking. They reject the truth of God and His Word, which prevents them from receiving the greatest gift of all time – Jesus;

2 Cor 4:3-4

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Given that they don’t know God it’s easy to understand why the lost continue to make mistakes, but what about the saved? Are Christians immune from using wrong thinking? Unfortunately, we are not. Even though we have heard the voice of the Spirit, our minds are still ‘programmed’ with wrong thinking. When we hear the Spirit and accept His leading, we are Born Again. This is what Jesus was referring to when He talked with Nicodemus. It’s also what Peter referred to when he wrote;

1 Peter 1:22-23

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…

In both of these passages the Word of God is given to be the originator of the New Birth. Jesus used the term “born of water (and of the Spirit),” and Peter declares openly that it is hearing and believing the Word which causes a person to be Born Again. Some will then ask, “So what? How does that apply to a Christian once we have heard the Spirit and believed the Word?” It has everything to do with it!

This is the pattern God has set for all who want to follow the Lord. It begins by hearing the leading of the Spirit, and then believing the Word. We ‘hear’ the call of God through the preaching of the Word, and we follow that call by believing the Word which we have heard. Not only is this how we get Born Again, it’s also how we become more and more mature as followers of Christ. It’s a lifelong process, not a one-time event!

This is why there seems to be so much confusion in the church regarding issues like sexuality, finance, obedience to the law of the land and other important things. People who may have legitimately been Born Again do not develop right thinking for themselves. They put their trust in what they hear the people in their denomination say rather than what the Bible declares. They haven’t read the Word for themselves, so they have no measure – no standard – against which they can compare what they’ve heard to check if it’s right thinking or not.

“Wait a minute! What about teachers in the church? Can’t we trust what they say?” Yes, if what people teach is based upon the Word you can trust it. God Himself has set people in positions of pastors and teachers so that we can grow by hearing the Word they proclaim;

Eph 4:11-13

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

The mission of these people is to bring others into the unity of the faith. The only way to have that kind of unity is to agree on a common standard of understanding. That standard is the Word of God, and not (necessarily) what their denomination teaches as a standard.

While it’s true that God has given people to the body of Christ to help instruct us, however, each of us desperately need to understand that there are traps set by the enemy for the unsuspecting and immature. The world is full of such traps, and the church is becoming just as full of them.

• Do you have to be baptized to receive salvation? No, you simply believe the Word of God concerning Christ and His sacrifice, and repent of your sins.
• Do you have to speak in tongues to have the Holy Spirit? No, because the Baptism into the Spirit is a separate gift. ALL believers have the Spirit living inside them.
• If you eat (or don’t eat) certain foods are you less of a Christian? No, because God gave us ALL things to enjoy.

So then, how are we to know what is from God and what is false?

We have the two best sources offered to Man to discover the truth (develop right thinking), and they are the same things Jesus submitted Himself to while here on earth; the Word of God and the Spirit of God. As we read and study the Word of God, and continue to seek God in prayer, He – through the Spirit – makes the will and wisdom of God available and understandable. It is a process, and one that we are ALL instructed to be involved with – individually;

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Col 3:16-17

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Even Peter admits that it takes continuous effort to develop right thinking;

2 Peter 3:15-16

…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation — as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

Who is he referring to when he mentions untaught and unstable people? He’s referring to those who either don’t know the Word or those who don’t believe it. They have not taken the time or effort to investigate the Word for themselves. They operate in wrong thinking, and he claims that wrong thinking leads them to their own destruction. That’s pretty serious!

Jesus gave us an example of how we all have opportunity to develop right thinking. He operated with a mind and heart filled with the Word, and He followed the leading of the Spirit in everything He did. He operated in right thinking based upon what the Word of God declares, and we need to do the same.

This is Part Two of a multi-part series. Keep an eye out for the next installment!