Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, THINKS NO EVIL; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Evil Thoughts
One of the things remarkable about the Apostle Paul's divinely inspired letters is their succinctness. Lots of meaning can be packed into a few words, and a profoundly complicated issue, at least from the human perspective, can be comprehensively conveyed and summarized in as little as the three words currently in focus: THINKS NO EVIL.
Evil is kakos (kak-os') in Greek. It connotes the following: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be, of a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that is base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, and baneful. It's a rich and smelly word, even sounding like English slang for excrement.
In contrast, agape love is so transforming that those immersed in it THINK only good stuff. Paul writes it this way in Philippians, "…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)".
Attempt this thought experiment right now; right this instant, DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT! Did you succeed? Liar!
Our fallen minds are so quick to be influenced by whatever stimuli is around us that we often go off in some profane mental direction reflexively, without volitional control. What we hear or see in this evil world often invokes the same evil within us, at least in our thinking. That is why the New Testament exhorts us to meditate on those things which are of above, as opposed to earthly things, and to take our thoughts captive. Incidentally, the first mention of thoughts in Scripture is Genesis 6:5, and it lays the foundation for most of what the Bible goes on to say about human thinking: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5, NKJV).
Here are some more thoughtful indictments of human thought, in case you might THINK differently about THINKING:
Ps 10:4* The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Ps 94:11* The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Isa 59:7* Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Isa 65:2* I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.
Mt 15:19* “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Ro 1:21* because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Heb 4:12* For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jas 2:4* have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Sin is conceived in the mind and brought forth in the will. That is why God has so much to say about controlling our thoughts, not because he wants to rob us of joy or freedom, but to prevent us from pain and heartache. You are what you think. Not the useful kind of informational, purely objective, rational thinking that advances scientific knowledge and allows for things like logic and practicality, and enables cures and moon landings and such. But the kind of thinking that we do most, about ourselves and how we feel and what we don't have or what has been done to us.
Agape love knows nothing about that latter kind of dreary and deadening thinking. Agape love does not think evil. It invents no evil, attributes no evil, and condones no evil. There is no room in a heart and mind immersed in that kind of love for such evil. Agape love is like brilliant unfettered sunlight that instantly and comprehensively banishes all darkness. Evil and that kind of love cannot coexist.
Think about it.
Evil Thoughts
One of the things remarkable about the Apostle Paul's divinely inspired letters is their succinctness. Lots of meaning can be packed into a few words, and a profoundly complicated issue, at least from the human perspective, can be comprehensively conveyed and summarized in as little as the three words currently in focus: THINKS NO EVIL.
Evil is kakos (kak-os') in Greek. It connotes the following: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be, of a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that is base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, and baneful. It's a rich and smelly word, even sounding like English slang for excrement.
In contrast, agape love is so transforming that those immersed in it THINK only good stuff. Paul writes it this way in Philippians, "…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)".
Attempt this thought experiment right now; right this instant, DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT! Did you succeed? Liar!
Our fallen minds are so quick to be influenced by whatever stimuli is around us that we often go off in some profane mental direction reflexively, without volitional control. What we hear or see in this evil world often invokes the same evil within us, at least in our thinking. That is why the New Testament exhorts us to meditate on those things which are of above, as opposed to earthly things, and to take our thoughts captive. Incidentally, the first mention of thoughts in Scripture is Genesis 6:5, and it lays the foundation for most of what the Bible goes on to say about human thinking: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5, NKJV).
Here are some more thoughtful indictments of human thought, in case you might THINK differently about THINKING:
Ps 10:4* The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Ps 94:11* The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Isa 59:7* Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Isa 65:2* I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.
Mt 15:19* “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Ro 1:21* because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Heb 4:12* For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jas 2:4* have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Sin is conceived in the mind and brought forth in the will. That is why God has so much to say about controlling our thoughts, not because he wants to rob us of joy or freedom, but to prevent us from pain and heartache. You are what you think. Not the useful kind of informational, purely objective, rational thinking that advances scientific knowledge and allows for things like logic and practicality, and enables cures and moon landings and such. But the kind of thinking that we do most, about ourselves and how we feel and what we don't have or what has been done to us.
Agape love knows nothing about that latter kind of dreary and deadening thinking. Agape love does not think evil. It invents no evil, attributes no evil, and condones no evil. There is no room in a heart and mind immersed in that kind of love for such evil. Agape love is like brilliant unfettered sunlight that instantly and comprehensively banishes all darkness. Evil and that kind of love cannot coexist.
Think about it.
