PENNYDo you easily share your thoughts with others? Or do you keep them locked away in a secret place for no one but yourself? There’s an old expression,

A penny for your thoughts.”

The first time the phrase was documented in print was in the 1546 publication of John Heywood’s book, The Proverbs of John Heywood. He was an English writer among other things.

While you may or may not value a penny, you do need to value your thoughts and choose them carefully. God clearly states in His Word that our thoughts matter.

The enemy is quite crafty and he loves to whisper ideas into our mind hoping we’ll latch hold of them as our own.

We need to be careful about which thoughts we lay claim to as our own and which ones we allow to pass us by.

There is a famous quote that has been attributed to many, but most frequently to Ralph Waldo Emerson. It says,

Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become character. Character is everything.”

Proverbs 23:7 puts it this way,

For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Our thought life is very powerful. It impacts us in ways that we don’t realize. We may think our thoughts are just that… OURS. After all, who is a mind reader? Who knows what we’re thinking? Ummm… God does. And He clearly places weight on our thoughts. In fact, our thoughts and actions are the same to Him.

Matthew 5:27-28 illustrates this,

You have heard it said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Ouch! Our thoughts are judged like our actions. I don’t know about you, but that’s a game changer for me. I have to be very careful about where I allow my thoughts to wander. I need to take control of them. If an idea passes through my mind that doesn’t line up with Christ, then I need to get rid of it and quickly [2 Corinthians 10:5].

We may fool ourselves into thinking no one knows what we’re thinking, but God does. Mathew 12:25, Luke 9:47, and Luke 11:17 all start off,

Jesus knew their thoughts….”

So, I ask you, what are you thinking? Is it something you want plastered on the jumbotron of heaven? Because God is not only fully aware of what you’re doing, but He’s also aware of what you’re thinking. Is that a game changer for you?