The words of Jesus…Mark 7, 18-23
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[b] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
According to Jesus, it is what we do, with what begins within, that defiles a person. I know that I have evil thoughts and evil desires but it is when I put into practice those evil thoughts and desires is when I sin or do things that do not meet with God’s approval. This does not mean the physical act only but the mental act as well. eg I can defile myself [ that is commit sin] by lusting or planning in my mind evil thoughts and desires. There is a positive mental saying, that what the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve. In the world’s view, this would be a negative mental attitude when relating to wrong and evil thoughts.
2 Corinthians 10: 5 advises us that 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. I do this sometimes many times in a day. When an unclean thought surfaces in my mind and I recognize that it is a wrong thought I generally say, Lord, this is a thought that does not meet with your approval so I am asking that you take this thought captive. It works every time when I decide to bury that unclean thought. Many times, it tries to resurface but I keep taking it captive.
I believe that every human being has at least one major thought that keeps popping into our mind. Listed below are some….
Sexual or adultery thoughts. Many of us find it difficult to control our sexual behavior.
Stealing..
Envy
Greed
Lying and Cheating
Murder
Arrogance
There are many more but the question is are you entertaining thoughts that are harmful to you and to others? If your answer is yes, take them captive.
The following are links to other websites and blogs with information on this topic.