the sin of thought

As I started my day today, nothing has gone as planned.

I prepared to go watch my granddaughter go into Mansfield Christian for her first day of Pre-School just as my kids had as they began kindergarten.

Much to my surprise what greeted me instead was a State Patrol car at the end of my driveway with the patrolman taking pictures of my smashed mailbox, a fallen electrical pole and "watch for deer" sign...at least the sign warned her there were deer before she swerved to miss one!

The officer assured me the girl was ok, so that's certainly what was important, but my thoughts were still not happy ones!  My plans were ruined and I wasn't happy!

I turned around and went back up to the house, and sat down to have my daily devotions and this is what was scheduled for August 21st.

Proverbs 15:26 The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked,
but gracious words are pure in his sight.

God detests wicked thoughts. We can think that God only cares about what we say or what we do. But God even knows what we think. Trust in Christ, then, for forgiveness of sins of thought as well as of deed. And out of the overflow of that graced heart, let gracious words now bring delight to God.

I always forget that the all-knowing God cares deeply about what I think.  But I live as if I believe the above paragraph "it only matters what I do or say"...WRONG!

Can you imagine how pure before the Lord our actions would be if we really believed our thoughts matter?  If we weren't conniving to work things out to our benefit or tying to force the outcome we desired?

I've talked before about worry and what a sin that I believe it is against the Lord.  I woke up last night worrying about a couple of things, nothing earth shattering, and I was awake enough to remind myself - the Lord already knows the outcome!  So I prayed for the items of worry and laid them at His feet - thankful for a Savior who cares about every detail of my life and who weaves even disappointments together for good.

In His power I will try anew today to take my thoughts captive and offer them up to Him asking for forgiveness even for my thoughts.

This could be a very busy day!