Thoughts

THOUGHTS

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts"

Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)

    Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD and he was also a Stoic philosopher.  Only a few days ago, I read this quote by him and I was struck by the poetic way he expressed the truth about a person's thoughts.  The Bible expresses it less poetically, but long before Aurelius came on the scene.  Proverbs 23:7 reads, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." 

    I chose this picture to represent various colors of thoughts and how some can become muddled and confusing, while others actually make sense.  This is a sample of the walls and ceiling of Red State BBQ near Lexington, Kentucky (delicious BBQ, by the way!).  It is quite colorful and "busy."  I'm sure if someone tried to scrub these white walls, they would continue to be stained with the red, green, blue and black of all the inked words written on them.  There is a definite object lesson comparing these walls to the soul dyed with the color of its thoughts.

    What color are thoughts anyway?  If you think about it, different colors could be used to describe many of the thoughts that fill our minds.  But, I think the author of that message also used the word color to describe the direction and tenor of our thoughts.  Just as God in His Word tells us that what we think becomes who we are.

     What is coloring your thoughts?  An old computer saying is:  garbage in: garbage out.  That's just as true for our thoughts.  So, I ask again, what is coloring (influencing) your thoughts?

     Is it the nightly news?  That can certainly take you down a black hole.  Are the shows you watch and/or the video games you play planting thoughts in your mind that are not uplifting?  Are the circumstances surrounding you coloring your thoughts with fear, depression, hopelessness?  Does bitterness stain your soul with the acid of unforgiveness?  The color of that toxin is deadly and it will eat away your peace and happiness.  Having your soul dyed in these colors is no way to live.                 

     Do your thoughts tend to be positive or negative?  Do your thoughts take you into dark places or cheerful places?  Are your thoughts more selfish or selfless?  Is your soul becoming dyed with the color of fear and anxiety, or with peace and praise?  The color of your soul/thoughts becomes the color of who you are.

     So, what if your soul has been so colored with less than desirable thoughts that you can't seem to scrub away the stain of those damaging colors?  Are you stuck with the stain?  Not at all.  Christ Jesus has promised to take away every ugly stain and make you (and your thoughts) clean again.  Here's what we're told by Almighty God in Isaiah 1:18-19:

"'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord,

'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white

as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall

be as wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you

shall eat the good of the land.'"

      What a wonderful promise for those of us whose souls have been dyed with ugly-colored thoughts.  Everyone is guilty of wrong thoughts - some more than others, but the stain is still there and needs to be washed clean.  Only Jesus can scrub your soul and make it sparkling clean -- if you ask Him to do so.

      For the Christian, you need only come to the Father and ask forgiveness and cleansing.  Then ask Him to heal your soul and direct your thoughts into directions that please Him. 

      For the person who has never asked Jesus into their heart, He is eager to save you and cleanse you.  Here are a few things you need to know:

      "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23, and the wages of those sins is death, "but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," Romans 6:23.

       And how can you receive that wonderful gift of life and cleansing?  Simply by confessing those sins and asking Jesus to save you:  "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," Acts 16:31.

         These are amazing promises from God's very Words.  A clean soul, unstained with damaging colors is worth more than all the money in the world.  Start fresh in this new year, with a clean soul and a right spirit with Father God who created you.  His love will help color your thoughts with a joy and peace you cannot find anywhere else.

    "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new," 2 Corinthians 5:17.

    "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things," Philippians 4:18.