Voluntary Thots. Where Do They Go?

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. --Proverbs 4:23

Tozer writes of this verse,

Every person is really what he or she secretly admires. If I can learn what you admire, I will know what you are, for people are what they think about when they are free to think about what they will.

This is one of those truths which seems obvious, incontrovertible. It's a principle true for all of mankind. Something interests the hearts of every person. What we must do as Christians is figure out (honestly) what, or who rises to prominence in our hearts. That will indeed be the determining factor in what we believe and how we live.

Chimp Contemplating 

 

It is true also that we cannot every minute of the day determine what we will do. Our jobs, our home responsibilities, and school will force certain tasks upon us. And we will do them. But when we have "free" time, about what do we tend to think? What rises to the surface of our consciousness? That will tell you what comprises the heart of your desires. Again Tozer warns,

Your baptism and your confirmation and your name on the church roll and the big Bible you carry--these are not the things that are important to God. You can train a chimpanzee to carry a Bible. Every one of us is the sum of what we secretly admire, what we think about and what we would like to do most if we became free to do what we wanted to do. Faith Beyond Reason, 96.

Lord, fill your people with a heart consumed with your Person, who love to meditate upon the riches of your grace, and mercy, and wrath, and justice, and holiness.