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PROGRAM D-7403

The Apostle Paul tells us we have the mind of Christ within us, and as we allow our new nature controlled by the Holy Spirit to take charge of our minds, then we can know God’s thoughts. That’s how we can make good decisions. But since we still have our old nature, how do we know which thoughts are God’s thoughts generated by the Spirit of God and which ones are coming from our old sinful nature?

I have developed a helpful exercise to help me test my thinking, so that I can have a biblical basis for analyzing my decisions. It’s based on James 3:17 which says: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” If we compare our thinking and reasoning to this verse, then we have good insight into the origin of our thoughts.

Let me illustrate this. Let’s say you have an opportunity to take a new job, but you’re not sure if it’s the right thing to do or not. Begin by writing down the decision you face and what your options are. Then use James 3:17 to test the consequences of each of your options, asking yourself this series of questions concerning each option you have, and make notes as you go. Using our example, this is how that works:

  1. The first test is purity. God’s wisdom is always pure. That means the decision would not lead you into any kind of impurity in your lifestyle, would not take you into unnecessary temptation, would not continually subject you to circumstances that would bring you down spiritually. Would this new job have any of these characteristics? What’s the environment like? What would be expected of you? Does it pass the purity test?
  2. Peace-loving or peaceable is the second criteria. God’s wisdom will lead us into a peaceable state of mind. I don’t mean we won’t know pressure or stress, but we will know an inner peace when we have God’s thoughts. When my spirit within me is not at peace for some reason, then I’m fairly certain I don’t yet have the mind of Christ. So you have to ask yourself if you have peace about this new job. And also, would the new job bring unrest and lack of peace into your life?

Those are the first two guidelines to consider in making right decisions—decisions that are according to God’s best for our lives.