Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus

Scripture Passage

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon Text

Uncontrollable Thoughts

Our thinking is very important, it shapes us and molds us. We are what we think, when our thinking is distorted, then we develop a distorted lifestyle. It affects our life in a significant way, if your thinking is dark, you become dark. If you constantly think about things to worry about, you can become paranoid.

But the problem is that our thinking is not something that we can control. Our thinking seems to have a mind of its own. It attacks us out of nowhere, one moment you are fine, the next you are in deep fear. Our thinking is separate from our will, desire and wants, it is beyond our power and control.

Then are we just victims of these random thoughts? Do we let these negative thoughts dictate us, take us where we don’t want to go? Many people do that. Their lives become paralyzed by these negative thoughts. They try their best to have positive thoughts but somehow they are unable to. They live with anger, fear, disappointment, cynicism, and lack of confidence. They constantly feed themselves with these negative thoughts. They constantly feel like they are not good enough, worrying about what’s going to happen to them, the world, the future. They want to get rid of that thinking but somehow they are unable to do that. 

These days, I am really thankful that I know God. If I didn’t know God, my life would have been so sad and dark. This pandemic is not good but on the contrary, there is a silver lining to this pandemic. I heard that our environment got much better, there is less pollution. Our rivers and oceans got much cleaner. There are not many cars on the street and no air travel helped reduce the greenhouse gases.

For me, this pandemic helps me get closer to God. I get to have more quality time with God. I get to know God more intimately. The more I think about God, the clearer my thinking becomes. It is like breathing the fresh air. Thinking about God changes the pattern of our thinking, it creates a new path for our thinking to flow. This new path leads us to good thinking and hopeful thinking. It takes us to the brighter side of our life. When we spend more time with God, amazing things happen. So I realized we are not just victims of random thoughts. We can do something about it.

Our thinking has to be trained. We cannot just let our wild thinking dictate us. Training of our thinking is more difficult than the physical training. But that is more important than the physical training. Of course, physical training helps us with good thinking too but the spiritual training has a much more powerful benefit. So, we need to spiritually train our thinking.

Guard Your Heart And Your Thoughts

That’s why St. Paul said this, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8) When we think about God, we can think of these things. When we fill our heart with God, God gives us peace that is beyond our intellectual understanding and that peace will guard our thinking. We need that, we need something that guards our thinking. And that is the peace of God. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7) That is the same as saying guarding your hearts and your thinking in Christ Jesus. That is what the Korean version of the Bible says.  너희 마음과 생각을 지키시리라. It says guard your heart and your thinking.

As we spend more time with God and get to know God more deeply, God’s peace will guard our hearts and our thinking in Christ Jesus. That is very important, we cannot just let our thinking go everywhere, and we cannot let our thinking take us over. God’s peace will guard our thinking. Let God’s peace not let our thinking do whatever it wishes. Let God’s peace channel our thinking into a good place.

A few days ago, I sent you an inner voice. And I said, “Let us set our minds on things that are above. If we set our minds on things that are on earth, we cannot overcome death. What we see on earth is death. When we set our minds on death, we will be destroyed. Let us set our minds on Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. When we focus on him, life that is hidden in God will be revealed to us.”

Our thinking is amazing. It can blind your eyes but also it can brighten your eyes. It can paralyze us but it can also liberate us. St. Paul said in today’s Scripture. “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” (Ephesians 1:17-19) That was St. Paul’s prayer for Ephesians. This is the prayer we all need in this difficult time.

Our thinking is scattered, our thinking has become darkened, our thinking has become weak. Focus on Jesus; Focus on God. Hebrews writer said this: “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus.” (Hebrews 3:1) Fix your thoughts on Jesus. You will experience amazing things, your thinking will find a new path. Only then can you overcome your difficult situations.