It has been said that the thought is the father of the deed. This is so. No one ever robbed a bank without first thinking, ”I’m going to rob a bank.” Every act, every crime, every good deed is first a thought and then a fact.

It may sound over simplified but all we have to do in order to do right is learn to think right. Good thinking brings good deeds and evil thinking evil ones. If we would improve our actions we must improve our thinking. It is no wonder that Paul admonished us saying, ”Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

The world is not thinking right nowadays, which is obvious because there is so much crime, violence, sex perversion etc. Wrong thinking leads to wrong doing just as surely as day follows night. All one has to do is pass by a magazine counter to see the kind of filth and junk that people are buying and reading. Today’s movies vividly portray corruption. Filling minds with this kind of garbage will only lead to wrong thinking which results in wrong doing.

One alarmed writer expressed his concern over the fact that the leaders of the world today are feeding their stomachs with the best steaks money can buy and their minds with garbage. The body would die of malnutrition if it was fed with the same kind of trash that men and women today feed their minds. No wonder the world is in such a mess. They aren’t thinking right; they can’t possibly then do right.

We are surrounded by evil influences on every side. We must put on blinders like they put on a race horse so that he will not be distracted by those around him and concentrate upon the goal of running a straight course to the finish line. We are in a life and death race, and if we look from side to side at the things going on in the world we are going to be slowed down in our effort to gain the kingdom.

Stating the answer to the problem is simple. Doing it is another thing. If only we will fill our minds with God, think and meditate upon Him and His promises we will automatically do the right thing. We will love mercy and do justly and walk humbly. We just will – if our mind is fixed on Him. This is why Isaiah said ”Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.”

Yes, our lives will be peaceful and serene. None of the problems of the world will get through to perturb us if we are filled with the spirit word of God. It will be wonderful, but will we do it? Will we turn off the TV and do the readings? Will we visit the sick and fatherless and try to cheer them up instead of taking in a movie? Will we write a letter to someone in isolation rather than thumb idly through the pages of a current magazine? Will we listen to a tape of an exhortation or class from Bible School instead of the nothing that is on the radio? How in the world are we ever going to learn to think right if all we ever hear is the world talking to us?

Yes, the thought is the father of the deed and our thoughts will determine what we do and what Christ will say to us upon His return. Let’s hope we are among that happy group who ”spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name.”