Series: Defending Your Faith – Thinking
Ideas Matter
A Call to Be Ready
God does not call us to drift through life without thinking. He calls us to know what we believe and to be ready to speak that truth with confidence and grace. Peter tells us, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. (1 Peter 3:15). To obey that command, we must use the minds God has given us. The Lord has blessed us with the ability to think, to understand, and to speak truth. What fills our minds will shape our lives, because ideas are never empty. As Paul says, Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2). We would do well to remember Paul’s instruction in Colossians 3:1-2, So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
What Starts in the Mind Shows Up in Life
The Bible makes it plain that our thoughts and our actions are deeply connected. What we do on the outside usually begins on the inside. Our choices do not come out of nowhere. They grow from what we believe, what we dwell on, and what we allow to live in our hearts. Jesus said, For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander. (Matthew 15:19). In other words, the battle is not only in our behavior. The battle is first in the heart and in the mind. James shows how inward desire grows into sin, But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15).
Ideas Have Real Consequences
What people believe shows up in the way they live. If someone believes he can ignore gravity, he may jump and suffer for it. If someone believes a moving train cannot hurt him, he may step into danger. If people give their minds over to lies, they can be led into terrible destruction. But good ideas also bear good fruit. Truth in medicine can lead to healing. Wise ideas at work can create jobs and provide for families. And true thoughts about God lead us to worship, obedience, and life. What we believe matters, because ideas do not stay in our heads. They walk out into the world through the lives we live. We would do well to remember Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. On the other hand, …wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. (James 3:17).
Ideas Shape More Than Individuals
Ideas do not only shape one person; they can shape whole nations and generations. History shows us again and again that what people believe can bless a society or break it. Some ideas have brought confusion, oppression, and death. Other ideas have led to freedom, order, and human flourishing. But above all of them stands the greatest truth of all: the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel does not merely influence history for a moment. It changes lives now, and it reaches into eternity.
What You Believe About God Changes Everything
There may be no greater thought in your life than your thought of God. A. W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”[1] The author of Hebrews tells us that right belief about God is essential to faith, …without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. If a person sees God as distant, life will be cold. If a person sees God as harsh, life may become fearful. If a person imagines God only as someone who exists to hand out blessings, faith becomes shallow. But when we know Him as the holy, loving, righteous heavenly Father revealed in Scripture, everything changes. Our view of God shapes our worship, our choices, our hopes, our fears, and the direction of our whole lives.
What You Believe About the Bible Matters Too
What we believe about the Word of God will guide the way we live day by day. If we truly believe the Bible is God’s Word, we will listen to it, trust it, and order our lives by it. But if we treat it like a book of nice sayings, or just another human opinion, we will look somewhere else for direction. The way we respond to Scripture reveals what we really believe in our hearts. Jesus said, Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17), thus the psalmist could affirm that God’s word was a lamp for my feet and a light on my path (Psalm 119:105).
Set Your Mind on What Is True
So the question for us is this: what are we allowing to shape our minds? God has not left us without instruction. His Word tells us, Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8). When we fill our minds with what is true and godly, good fruit follows. When we give ourselves to falsehood and corruption, painful consequences follow. Let us never say that ideas do not matter. They matter in this life, and they matter before God.
[1] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1961), p. 1.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006–2026 by Miguel J. Gonzalez Th.D.
Dr. Miguel J. Gonzalez is the Founder and President of Reasons for Faith International Ministries. He served as a pastor for ten years in Charlotte, NC and has taught in churches and conferences throughout the United States. He currently hosts the Time in the Word and Truth To Live By podcasts and writes at KnowingChristianity.blogspot.com.
