December 21, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

Jeremiah wrote more about the imagination than any other writer of the Bible, but these were not the prophet’s words, they were the words of the Lord. Each usage of the word imagination was a direct quote from God to His people. Consider the above quote. Two verses earlier we are told who is speaking, Then the Lord said unto me…  These statements about the imagination were not mere words of a man, but rather the words of God.

Also, each and every time the word “imagination” or “imaginations” are used by Jeremiah it is in a negative context. It is either “imagination of their evil heart,” or “his heart,” or “his own heart.”  The two times the word “imaginations” is used in Lamentations, a book written by Jeremiah, it is followed by “against me” speaking of man’s rebellion against God.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet whose prophecy is dire, filled with judgment and doom. The heart and mind of the people who had every reason to trust and follow the Lord God of Heaven had allowed their imagination to turn them against Him. This unfortunate situation is a warning for all believers of all times. The imagination of mind and heart has the potential to draw us closer to the Lord, imagine His Heaven and the promises associated with it for those in Christ. However, it also could cause us to leave the Lord’s leadership, forfeiting our relationship with Him by placing that which we think above that which He clearly communicates to us through His Word.

For those who say it is not possible for believers today to forget God, leave His presence, or stifle His influence there remains a question. Why are there ample warnings of this in the New Testament? Warnings like II Peter 3:17: “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”  This is a devotional thought we may visit on another day.

May the Lord bless and be pleased with your thought life today.

Dr. William Howe