December 23, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Jeremiah 16:12  And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

‘Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication’ is what it is called, meaning “There can be no words without images” (Aristotle). This is the imagination at work. For example, when someone hears the phrase “red roses for mamma,” pictures of red roses and your mother (or a representative image of motherhood) appear in the mind.

Some have very active imaginations and some have very dull imaginations. The degree of imagination varies based upon how familiar a person is with the topic. If a trained musician hears the term “bass clef” they picture a backwards C with two dots to the right of it. A cabinet builder with no training in reading music would have no image to associate with the term. Likewise, if these same two individuals hear the phrase “stile and rail,” the cabinet builder could picture the wooden frame surrounding the insert of a cabinet door. However, the musician, if not trained in basic woodworking techniques, would have no image to readily associate with the term. They would “draw a blank” meaning they have no pictures in their imagination to associate with the unfamiliar terms.

This is why words and phrases are so powerful. Advertisers know this, they bombard you with pictures and catchy phrases to imprint the thought they wish to promote into your brain in your imagination. Can you think of the phrase “map of the United States” without seeing the outline of our nation? Can you hear our National Anthem without picturing a flag in your mind? How about the term “Penumbra Effect”? What do you picture in your mind? Unless you are trained in the science of light passing through matter there is no image for you to associate with the term.

So what does this have to do with our verse today? Be careful of the images you allow into your mind, they always affect your thinking. Imagination of an evil heart comes from seeing evil things. This was the failing of God’s people in Jeremiah’s day; they observed the unbelieving nations and those images entered into their imaginations, which in turn influenced their actions. They forsook faith for that which they could see.

By the way, “penumbra” is the region in which only a portion of the light source is obscured by the occluding body, more simply put a shadow (in its most basic form).

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

Dr. William Howe