J Heinrich Arnold-Freedom from sinful thoughts.pdf

Jesus says, “From the thoughts of the heart stem evildesigns.” He also says, “Wherever your treasure lies,there your heart will be.” For too many of us, includingthose of us who call ourselves Christians, our privatethoughts or fantasies are our treasure. We do not wantto sin, but we do not want to give up our private fantasieseither. Yet it is precisely in our thought-life wherethe struggle for good and evil is won or lost. TheApostle Paul understood this and so wrote: “Be transformedby the renewing of your mind; then you will beable to test and approve what God’s will is – his good,pleasing, and perfect will” (Rom. 12:1–2). For Paul, thetransformation of our actions begins with the transformationof our thoughts – that is, freedom from sinfulthoughts is paramount to freedom in Christ.Arnold’s attention to sinful thoughts must be seen inthis greater context of transformation. His is not amorbid preoccupation with perfection. All of usstruggle with unwanted images and thoughts. But asArnold assures us, tempting thoughts are not in and ofthemselves sinful. It is what we do with them thatmatters. James says, “Once passion has conceived, itgives birth to sin.” Therefore the question is, Do wenurture the evil thoughts that come to us, linger onthem, and so feed them; or do we take them up as in abattle and strive to overcome them in Christ?ix