“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119: 59 KJV).
Man was created with the ability to think. His thinking formulated thoughts that, upon his approval, lead to the actions that define his life.
“Think” is a verb. “Thought” is a noun. Thinking is the activity that produces thought. God thinks and has innumerable thoughts about me (Psalm 40: 5 139: 17, 18). Most people think but do not have their own thoughts. They do not come up with an inner caption that originated with them. They’re thinking but thoughtless. They’re thinking after the thoughts of others.
Correct thinking is vital. If we do not think correctly and form the correct thoughts, we will live wrongly. The mistakes in our lives are due to mistaken thoughts about God (Ps. 50: 21). To think correctly, we must have the one correct reference point to guide our thinking. That one correct reference point is the word of God.
We can not think ungodly thoughts and live a godly life. We can’t think one way and live another way. We can’t think like a devil and live like a Christian.
The world has developed the thought life of the modern Christian. They pipe Hollywood’s sewage into their living room and mind and then wonder why it’s so hard to live for Jesus Christ. When real God-sent revival comes to the church, there won’t be a single Christian home with a TV in it.
Correct thinking is essential for the growth of the Christian (2 Cor. 10: 5; Phil. 4: 8). Meditation is a vital part of the formula for spiritual success (Joshua 1: 8; Psalm 1: 2; 1 Tim. 4: 15).
The writer of our text was a thinking person who was able to form his own thoughts— “I thought.” He objectified self as the subject of his examination. His reference point was the word of God, and his examination showed he was out of the will of God, and he “turned” or repented and returned to God’s will. This sort of constant thinking, examining, and changing is necessary for our spiritual growth and sanctification.
The Christian of today needs to learn how to think. By that I mean, they need to by faith receive the truth from God’s word, seek to understand it’s significance to them as an individual, and then apply it to their personal life that they might live the life of Christ.
We become godly not by just reading through Scripture but by thinking through Scripture, not by just memorizing Scripture but by realizing Scripture.
