December 24, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

How sad! The people of God chose to walk according to their own devices. They decided to do that which they imagined in an evil heart. This is a serious decision which God says was a …very horrible thing. (Jeremiah 18:13)  Because of this they were scattered, they ran away from their enemies (Jeremiah 18:17).

Once when I was a sales manager, I hired a sales representative that had tremendous potential. He looked successful, he had the “gift of gab,” he was smart, young, had tremendous instincts about salesmanship, and he was an excellent golfer. Yet after nine months he was let go. He simply would not work, he did not make his sales calls, he was definitely not a self-starter, and he would not follow up on commitments he made. He was the most naturally gifted sales person I have ever met, yet he failed in sales.

His shortcomings first surfaced while in sales training, they were addressed. For the first six months I traveled with him for at least two days discussing areas that needed his attention and improvement. Then the customers started complaining. It was a sad day, that Wednesday when I had to notify him that he was being terminated. A sad day for him and me, but it had to be done. All he had to do was work, but he chose not to.

He covered one entire state and half of another. I lived two states away. Ours was the kind of job that gave the representatives maximum freedom. They could chose to work when no one told them to work, and they could choose to not work and for a while no one would know. He chose not to work, it was his decision. Had he worked he would have been an all-star.

This is how the people of God are. We have all that we need to be successful in the Christian life, yet sometimes we choose not to work at it. Israel did, and sometimes we do too. How sad!

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

Dr. William Howe