The thought really does count

When people say, “It’s the thought that counts,” they really mean it. I’m not just saying this because I’ve given subpar gifts that I put no thought into or even received gifts that were less than stellar. I’m saying this because when it comes to sin, thoughts really do matter.

As I was reviewing the first seven chapters of Jeremiah for tonight’s Bible study, I came across a verse I’ve read many times, at least four recently; however, as often happens, the same verse doesn’t always speak the same way twice. This time I was reviewing the early chapters of Jeremiah in a NKJV chronological Bible looking for all the ways Jeremiah’s writings intersect with the writings of the other books of the time period.

In Jeremiah 6:19 God says this: “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” (NKJV). 

I looked at this verse in parallel translations, some literal, others more interpretation, but the gist of it always comes back to the mind of man plotting rebellion or evil. In the judgment God intended as discipline for His own people, the people of Judah, the same phrases emerge regardless of translation, such as the fruit of their own plotting, devices, thoughts, way of thinking, schemes, plans, rebellions, and games.

It is ironic that that the same phrase we use to justify ourselves can also condemn us.—the thought either counts, or it doesn’t.

God’s word is enlightening in this case, especially when considered in light of Jesus’ teachings as related in the New Testament writings of Matthew when He says, knowing their thoughts, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (9:4, NASB).

The idea of a man being what he thinks wasn’t really a new thought, though. Proverbs 27:3 relates this idea as well saying, “For as he [a man] thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart is not with you.” And the idea of coveting is condemned as the tenth commandment in Exodus 10:27. Coveting is yearning to possess something you do not have, which means that it is sinful thinking, and God condemns this in His word.

In Jeremiah 17:9, this idea of the inner thoughts and workings of the mind and heart emerges with another detail: “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” This really gets to the heart of the matter, which is that the people of Judah didn’t understand how evil their hearts really were; instead, they were corrupted by their total integration to the ways of the pagan world. They couldn’t see how offensive their sins were to a pure, holy, righteous God who couldn’t tolerate sin. He had already extended grace to Judah, as her sister Israel had already been condemned for her sins. While Josiah reformed the nation, turning back to God with all his heart and tearing down the pagan idols, not all agreed with him and repented and sought God. Certainly after King Josiah died, spiritual conditions deteriorated even further, as is clear when Jeremiah couldn’t find even one man as God asked who acted justly or sought truth (Ch. 5).  But this, too, was no surprise to God, who looks at the heart of man.

When it comes down to it, the idea of sin being in the heart, entertained in the thoughts of man goes all the way back to the garden, where Eve listened to the serpent ask, “Did God really say . . . ?” (Gen. 3). She entertained the doubts planted, and her thoughts led to actions that could not be denied, just as the thoughts and plans of the people of Judah led to actions steeped in sin, offensive to God.

There is a caution in this for me. What I feed thrives. Am I feeding the spiritual nature with food fit for God’s plans for me? Or am I feeding the carnal man, entertaining thoughts that are not pleasing to God, which often give way to sin when entertained? That is why it is so essential to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5, NIV). The thought really does count.