PT-2 "A Discerning Mind" (2 Timothy 2:23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/11/2025 8:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus: PT-2 “A Discerning Mind”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  2 Timothy 2:23

 

            Message of the verse:  “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”

 

            We saw in the second chapter of Paul’s letter to Timothy that Paul admonishes the younger pastor to warn those under his care “not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers” and to “avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:14-17).

 

            John MacArthur writes “The truth and purity of ideas that go into the mind are of the utmost importance.  An automobile needs filters to trap harmful objects in the gasoline, oil, and air.  If not filtered out, even small particles of dust or grime can cause an engine to lose power, stip running, and suffer permanent damage.  In the same way, an accumulation of even seemingly insignificant moral and spiritual pollution can corrupt a Christian’s mind and heart, making him less and less effective and usable in the Lord’s work.  The things we allow to enter our minds affect our thinking, our beliefs, our values, our motives, and our priories. And the more willingly we allow them to enter, the more powerfully they affect us.  The writer of Proverbs wisely observed that ‘a fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind,’ and that ‘a fool’s lips bring strife, and his mouth calls for blows’ (Prov. 18:2, 6).”

 

            I have to say that this next paragraph MacArthur writes speak to my heart, hopefully to yours as well.  “Of the ten billion or so cells in the human brain, by far the majority are used for memory.  An although the ease of forgetting makes it hard to believe, scientists have determined that everything the brain registers it retains.  The passing of time and the lack of use make information harder and often impossible to retrieve, but all the information received is still there, no matter how far it recedes from consciousness.  The memory cells are interconnected by equally microscopic fibers, which enable stored facts, ideas, visual images, feelings, and experiences to be associated with each other to produce through patterns, which store still more permanent information in the brain.” 

 

            I have to say that this is some scary stuff to think that all of the thought are stored in my brain.  Why is it scary? It is scary because when I was born into this world I was born a sinner, and sinner’s thoughts are stored in my brain.  The best thought that is stored in my brain came from the 26^th of January, 1974, the day that I realized that I was a sinner and that Jesus Christ took my place on the cross in order to save me from my sins, to make me a new person, and to cause me to be born-again into the family of God. 

 

            I have read someplace that when the “White Throne Judgments” take place in heaven that the Lord will play back to each unsaved person events from their lives, and if all of their memories are stored in their brains like we read from the above statement then it won’t be difficult for this to take place. 

 

            A few weeks ago I received from MacArthur’s church a booklet entitled “Keeping a Pure Mind.”  It is a short little booklet and on the back of it are written the following:  “Our fiercest spiritual battles are often not against open, overt sins-not many of us are thieves, drunkards, or murders.  Rather, the fight is almost always internal.

 

            “But how vigilant are you at curbing your wayward thoughts and attitudes?  What unfolds in the arena of your mind, where it is all too easy to succumb to sins of the imagination-sins we would never act our before others?

 

            “God is the audience to all our thoughts: ‘Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart’ (Ps. 44:21). External behavior alone is not an accurate measure of your character.  The thoughts of the heart are the real litmus test of who we are.  Join John MacArthur in this study, to instruct your heart in the true nature and dangers of the sins that no one but God and your own conscience see.  Learn how your mind sins-and how to discern its thoughts and intentions, and take every thought captive to obedience to Christ.  Cede no ground to sinful self-indulgence.  Study Scripture’s principles for Keeping a Pure Mind.

 

            I think that it may be a good idea if over the next Spiritual Diaries that I quote from this booklet because this is a very important subject to think about and learn to better control, the thoughts of your mind.  So I will pause with my study of 2 Timothy for a while and take time to quote from this booklet.  I believe it will be helpful to all who follow this booklet.

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  Studying about how to keep a pure mind will be very helpful to me, for many sins are in the mind, and that means that if not stopped there that they will be put into practice.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Begin to learn how to keep a pure mind, and follow that teaching for the rest of my life so that I can be pleasing to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

3/11/2025 9:28 AM