Installing God’s Thought Filters: Guarding the Mind for a God-Honoring Life

Summary

While God gave humans free will, He did not install automatic thought filters. Sinful thoughts arise naturally and often go unnoticed, shaping behavior and habits. Scripture calls believers to install godly thought filters through God’s Word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit, evaluating thoughts by love, truth, and holiness so that Christ-honoring living can follow.

Everyday Filters and Spiritual Blind Spots

Cars have a cabin, air, oil, and a fuel filter. They remove impurities in the air, motor oil, and fuel. At my house, we filter our drinking water and air to remove impurities.

During the pandemic, millions wore masks to reduce the spread of COVID. While restoring a home damaged by Hurricane Katrina, I wore a respirator to protect me while I removed moldy drywall.

When I mow leaves every fall, I wear a mask to filter out the leaf dust before it reaches my lungs.

Free Will and the Unfiltered Mind

God created us with free will. He did not install a thought filter to remove contaminants and impurities. That is especially obvious in people whose foul and abusive language consists of four-letter words every third or fourth word.

“The lips of the righteous know what finds favor, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.” (Proverbs 10:32 NIV). Those words and many negative thought patterns also dwell in our minds, even though we are Jesus’ followers.

How Sinful Thoughts Shape Behavior

Our sinful nature generates unholy thoughts as naturally as the sun produces heat and light. We often do not recognize it is happening.

Lustful, materialistic, or prideful thoughts raise no alarm bells within us. Unfiltered, unchristian thinking easily slides into unchristian behavior.

The Need for God's Thought Filters

Our thoughts shape our feelings and behavior. Living a God-honoring life begins with God-honoring thoughts.

That is a challenge because the sinful nature’s self-destructive soundtrack blares as long as we live. How can we protect ourselves against it?

I evaluate almost everything I do to try to improve. It just dawned on me that I do not do that with my thought life.

That must change. The key filter question is, “Do these thoughts demonstrate love and honor for God and others?”

God creates thought filters. The way to rebuke evil thoughts is to install those thought filters. We must be like a batter who focuses on a pitched baseball—not on anything else.

Philippians 4:8 as the Standard

Philippians 4:8 describes that ball as whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. When the untrue, dishonorable, wrong, impure, ugly, and blameworthy enter our minds, we must identify them as trespassers and send them packing.

As new Christians, we were caught in the web of habitual habits and behaviors that our wrong thinking generated. God provides His word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit to demolish them (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

Replacing Old Patterns with New Habits

We must develop brand-new habits and behaviors built on the foundation of God’s word. We destroy every obstacle that separates us or others from knowing God. We gag our rebellious thoughts and turn our attention to obeying Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Love is the preeminent thought filter. We must use it to filter out childish, self-centered speaking, thinking, and behaving (1 Corinthians 13:11).

We must filter out worldly thinking also—cravings for physical pleasure and material things, and pride about who we are or what we own (1 John 2:16).

Love as the Ultimate Thought Filter

Let us install love as an internal thought alarm that sounds when unloving thoughts tempt us to serve ourselves rather than God and others. See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.  #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources

God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 7,541 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 17,361 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting. 

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