Proverbs 15:26 ESV
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure.
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We have an unconscious way of assuming that, at the end of the day, what goes on inside us is ours alone. I can be angry or sad or mad or covetous, and as long as I don’t tell anybody, nobody knows. It affects only me, and only I care. That’s a dangerous assumption even in the most mundane way. Things on the inside do have a way of coming to the outside somehow, even if we don’t notice it happening. The very base idea, though, is false. God knows every detail of our heart, and He is a just Judge of all that He sees.
Like a lot of life, this coin has two sides. The first side, the one we all need to recognize, is the unpleasant part. All our evil thoughts have been made in God’s sight. For the wicked, this is yet another layer of damnation. For the righteous it is a solemn reminder and a goad. Let’s consider each part of this in turn.
The wicked man has only wicked thoughts. Of man unregenerate the condemnation given in Genesis 6:5 rings true: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Note that after Noah’s flood God did not say that mankind would never again deserve such sweeping destruction; no, He promised instead “that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood” (Gen. 9:9-12). The thoughts of the wicked, from Cain to the Jews of Acts 28:26-27 even to this day, all those men have had thoughts of evil continually, thoughts justly called an abomination to the Lord. This is to them a further damnation.
The difference between the ‘thoughts of the wicked’ and ‘evil thoughts’ is for the wicked a rather intellectual distinction; they are by enumeration one and the same. For those who have been called, whom Christ has justified, who have begun their earthly sanctification, the warning should strike a little differently. We have evil thoughts, thoughts we are ashamed of, thoughts we want to hide from God and from each other. We have anger and lust and greed and all those nasty things still swirling around in our souls, not yet fully burned away.
The man of God, however, has this assurance: “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). We are made holy in His sight; we are set apart to His service. Though the sanctification of our body and flesh is from out perspective not quite complete, though my body and soul, holy before God, still struggle to work that holiness out (10:14), I have still the assurance of His completed work. For such a one the condemnation of evil thoughts has a different character.
For the sinner, evil thoughts were a damnation. For God’s child, what are they? We know them still to be an abomination. The Lord does not tolerate sin (Is. 59:15-20). To us, then, those sinful thoughts are still a harm. Towards His sons, though, God bears an everlasting love (Ps. 136). Such sins are these bring to us that of which Hebrews speaks in 12:5-6, saying, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.”
I’ve touched on one side of the coin, then, but what of the other side? “Gracious words are pure,” runs the end of today’s verse from Proverbs. How does this apply to us?
To God’s people has been given the joy of thoughts and speech which brings joy. To us has been given this great gift: words of grace, words which speak grace and bring it. The summit of these words lies in the truth of the Gospel, in the vast and inimitable proclamation of His birth, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and the triumph which is to come. We have words of grace so deep that man will not in all eternity fathom it, so wide that the world cannot hold them, so vibrant that they bring in His power even life to the dead (John 3:5). Let us rejoice in that gift, turning thought and heart and tongue all to the purpose of His glory, His glory which is our eternal joy.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
