Sow A Thought…Reap A Destiny

I came across a really neat quote this morning that I thought I would share.

“Sow a thought; reap an action.
Sow an action; reap a habit.
Sow a habit; reap a character.
Sow a character; reap a destiny.”

I think this little quote accurately describes the root of almost all of our sins – our thoughts. We often think that we slipped into a particular sin without any warning whatsoever. The man who cheats on his wife thinks it came out of the blue. The woman who stole money from her employer believes there was no writing on the wall foreshadowing her impending actions. But this is hardly ever the case. Jesus said that “…out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19, emphasis added). When we act in a particular way, those actions already lived inside our hearts and minds. The physical act of doing them is just an overflow of what already exists inside of us.

So what’s a guy to do?  Not have thoughts? No, that’s impossible. As long as we’re living, awake, and functioning in this world, we will have thoughts. The trick is to “…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Become strong-willed in what you allow your mind to focus on, become hard-lined toward what you allow your thoughts to embrace, and become cautious about what you allow your eyes to see and ears to hear. Because it’s not just an action that is reaped from those thoughts…eventually, it’s a habit, a character, and a destiny.