Wholesome Thinking: Living with God at the Center of Every Decision
- Jack Selcher
- Jul 16, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Summary
True wisdom surpasses education and rests on God-centered, wholesome thinking. Secular reasoning contrasts with biblical truth, with ignoring God leading to distorted thinking. Wholesome thinking anchors the mind in God’s character, guides every stage of life, resists self-deception, and focuses on blessing others. Fixing our thoughts on what honors God leads to faithful, purposeful living.
When I graduated from college, I summarized the value of my education at my secular college for an award the college offered (I didn’t receive it!). I wrote that my education empowered me to make wise choices among alternatives.
My college education was worth its cost (only about 3 percent of the present cost). The downside was that I had to watch for rogue dinosaurs while walking between classes!
My summary wasn’t completely wrong, but wholesome thinking is more than secular education-driven decision-making. Modern criminals choose the best alternatives to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Some use artificial intelligence to conduct phishing/social engineering attacks and voice/video cloning scams.2 Not what I would call wholesome thinking.
Why Education Alone Is Not Enough
True wisdom rests on wholesome and not just educated thinking. Proverbs teaches that the quality of our thinking and lives depends on reverence for, faith in, and commitment to the Lord’s will and ways (Proverbs 1:2-3).1
My college professors were silent about such thinking and living. One reason is that many didn’t glorify or give thanks to God, resulting in futile thinking in their darkened, foolish hearts (Romans 1:21, Ephesians 4:17).
The Consequences of Godless Thinking
God gave some of them over to a depraved mind to do what they shouldn’t (Romans 1:28). One of my graduate school professors invited me to live at his house. I sensed it was to gratify the desires of his flesh (Romans 13:14). Not wholesome thinking. I respectfully declined.
Anchoring the Mind in God’s Truth
The pegs of trust in God’s character and promises anchor the tent of wholesome thinking. God-centered thinking sometimes leads us in unexpected directions.
Wholesome Thinking Through Every Life Stage
Most people do what they want in retirement, but wholesome thinking doesn’t align with the standards of this age (1 Corinthians 3:18). By retirement age, we should be thinking like adults and not self-centered children (1 Corinthians 14:20).
At every stage, life is about doing God’s will, not our own. God inspired and empowered me to use the gifts He has given me to write 650 blogs since I retired to build others up in the Christian faith.
Living to Bless Others, Not Ourselves
The Apostle Peter tried to stimulate wholesome thinking (2 Peter 3:1). It realizes that life isn’t about maximizing our enjoyment either before or after retirement. It is about humbly blessing the most people we can with the gifts God has given us (Romans 12:3), not comparing ourselves to others (Galatians 2:4), and living for Jesus who died for us (1 Corinthians 15:5).
Guarding and Renewing Our Thoughts
God must be at the center of our lives, not at the periphery of our thoughts. King David wrote, “I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night” (Psalm 63:6 NLT).
Don’t believe everything you think. We are prone to self-deception. “People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines the heart” (Proverbs 21:2 NLT). Wholesome thinking includes openness to God’s correcting and redirecting us when we wander into the spiritual wilderness.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NLT). That is wholesome thinking.
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