December 3, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

December 3

2 Samuel 4:10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:

It’s always astonishing to find out that your thinking was wrong. Two brothers thought that they would win favor if they killed the King’s enemy. They were wrong. They killed Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, who claimed the throne after his father’s death. David was not pleased, he had their hands and feet cut off then hung them over the pool in Hebron. How astonished and confused these brothers must have been when their thinking proved fatal.

It’s been said before in these devotions, but repetition is the key to learning. Never underestimate the potential for being wrong, it’s immense. One of the difficult things about being wrong is the way others react. Many times they act as though they have never been wrong about anything, ever. These types hold others to an impossible standard of rightness that they themselves could never satisfy.

We’ve all been wrong, we’ve all been wronged. Probably we have all had to say “I’m sorry” to someone else a time or two. Right! So why think that everyone has to be perfect? Some time ago a politician made some unfortunate remarks at a time when he thought his microphone was turned off. It was on. He was embarrassed. Anyone who speaks as much as a politician does is bound to say the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong manner and with the wrong words. This is not surprising or even remarkable. What was remarkable was the reaction of the media “suits” that ridiculed him, maligned him, mocked him, and derided him. They had the thinking that they could use this man’s mistake to lessen his influence. Their pompous, sanctimonious, and self-righteous reaction to a man’s mistake spoke volumes of their lack of honor, common courtesy, and sense of fairness and justice.

If your thinking proves to be wrong, deal with it honestly, openly and immediately. Others may or may not forgive you, but you may just save your hands, feet, and neck.

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

Dr. William Howe