Higher Thoughts

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa.55:8-9)

I firmly believe there are times when God impresses His will on our hearts and minds, especially when there is need for immediate action. But, generally speaking, the Will of God is found in the Word of God; and to conduct our lives otherwise is to court disaster. Here is a good rule of thumb in such matters: Our understanding of the Bible should never be based on our experiences; but, rather, our experiences must be evaluated in light of the Scriptures. For as these verses in Isaiah tell us, God and I just do not think alike.

"Ah, but wait a minute," I can hear you Bible students saying. "As children of God, we now have 'the mind of Christ.' Paul says so in 1 Corinthians 2:16." Let's consider that a minute. Because Christ lives within me, does that insure that every thought I have is His? No, because the war that goes on between good and evil in my "members" (Rom.7:21-23), is a war of ideas, played out in my "mind"; and I cannot afford to linger long on that battlefield, when truth is at stake. So, if I want to know what God thinks about something, I'll have to find out what He said about it. (As one of my English professors was fond of saying, "How do I know what I think, till I see what I say?") And the only way I can do that is to read the Book of His thoughts. We know His thoughts—the thoughts that are higher than ours—are found in His Word. After all, it is His Word, not His thoughts, that He has promised in verse eleven will not "return unto [him] void.”

Oh, yes; we do indeed have the mind of Christ, not always in our heads, but always in our hands, within the pages of the Word of God, forever "settled in heaven" (Psl.119:89). And I agree with Peter; this is a much “more sure” place” (2Pet.1:19-21).

So, think higher thoughts than your own today, as you make decisions, raise your children, and interact with those around you. Open the pages of the "God-breathed" Book" (Psl.33:6) and take a big, deep breath!