Christ Will Rescue You

Monday, October 26, 2026

Why Bad Thoughts Are Sinful

Philippians 4:8(NLT) tells us, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” In this verse, God is instructing us how to discipline our thought life. He has given us salvation through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and through Christ we are spiritually born again, but our heads and hearts are another story. When we accept Christ and receive his Spirit, God does not come inside our heads and hearts and start moving the bad stuff out and replacing it with the goodness of His powerful Word. No. He doesn’t do this because He has told us to do it. We have free-will choice, and God will not overstep the gift of free-will that He’s given us. We choose what we will let into our heads and hearts.

Genesis 1:26-27 teaches us that God made us in His own image. We are His children, and we are a part of His family. God is sovereign. He is all-powerful, everywhere present, and all knowing. There is none like Him, and He cannot be governed by anyone but Himself. He has given us a type of this self-governing agency, and we call it free-will. So, we are in control of our own minds and hearts, and we alone decide how we want to think, feel, and behave.

In Philippians 4:8, God has given us instructions for molding and shaping a better life and reality for ourselves. He tells us to think the highest thoughts of goodness we can muster. Why do you suppose He’s told us this? Well, Proverbs 23:7 provides just the insight we need. It says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” This means that our thoughts are producing something in our lives. Our thoughts are defining the person that we choose to be, and this is totally under our control.

I’ve heard many people questioning why it’s a sin to think bad thoughts. At one time, I had the same curiosity. After all, they’re just thoughts, and nobody knows what I’m thinking except me, but thoughts are an indication of what is in our souls. Both the heart and the mind are a part of the soul, and the soul is what our Heavenly Father is after. He created the soul to be filled with His goodness so that we, as His children, can manifest His goodness outwardly. This is the way to have the abundant life He’s made available through His Son, Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want our souls filled with things that will harm us and cause us to live beneath our privilege.

God is good, and He deserves all glory and honor. He is holy, and all the things that He wants for Himself must be holy too. He tells us in 1Peter 1:16(NIV), “Be holy, because I am holy.” Sinful and bad thoughts corrupt the soul, and when the inner part is corrupt, this corruption will manifest itself outwardly and begin to affect our lives in a negative way. God doesn’t want this for us.

Heavenly Father tells us in Romans 12:2(NIV), “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Everything starts with a thought, and we ought to make it a good one. Evil and bad thoughts are a sin because they take us in the opposite direction of where God wants us to be. They take us out of the path of His love.

We should prevent this from happening, and we are empowered through the Spirit of Jesus Christ to do so. When we wake up each morning, we should get into the habit of regulating our minds to think like Christ from the very start. God commands that we put on the mind of Christ, and if we begin our day like this each morning, we will build our lives on a solid foundation. We will be spiritually strong with God’s Word in our minds and hearts, and this will keep us anchored in His blessings and goodness continually.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Thursday, October 22, 2026

When Loving Him Means Losing Yourself

About five years ago, I heard about a woman who was doing some extraordinary things in her community and church, and I had to know more. Now, having pulled off my own share of events, I know a little something about what it takes to bring a vision to life. Everybody is all in when the idea is fresh, the excitement is high, and the talking is good. But when it's time to show up, roll up your sleeves, and help carry the load? That's when you find out who's really in your corner and who's just cheering from the sidelines!

This woman had set her sights on putting on a Christian fashion show that could rival anything you'd see in New York City. And she wasn't doing it just to put on a good show, either. She wanted to raise money for a local women's shelter. She reached out to designers in the area, including some well-known names, and set out to make this thing happen. So, when I heard that half of the designers had pulled out, I wondered how in the world she was going to pull it off. But let me tell you something: this woman was not about to let a few setbacks shut down what she had set out to do. She got creative, thought on her feet, and made it happen. And when I say she pulled it off, she did more than pull it off!

It wasn’t just the show—it was the energy, the atmosphere, the intent to honor God in that way. I marveled at what she had accomplished, and I got to know her. We became friends. She was like that—the kind of woman who could walk into a room, see something that needed to be done, and get busy doing it. She was confident, capable, and wasn't afraid to take the lead when necessary. But something changed after she got married. The woman who once had so much to say became quiet. She stopped offering her opinions and sharing her ideas. Even when someone asked what she thought, she remained silent. Her husband had a habit of belittling her, sometimes in front of other people, and over time, the confidence that had once been so evident in her seemed to disappear.

This kind of change doesn't always happen overnight. Sometimes it begins with little remarks that are passed off as jokes. A woman shares an idea, and her husband tells her it's foolish. She makes a decision, and he criticizes her for not doing it his way. When she tries to explain how his words hurt her, he accuses her of being too sensitive or starting an argument. After a while, she begins to think twice before speaking. She carefully chooses her words, watches his moods, and tries to avoid anything that might upset him. She may not realize it, but her relationship has become a place where she doesn't feel emotionally safe. What she once did freely, she now does with fear and uncertainty.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 (NLT), “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Our hearts are precious to Heavenly Father, and we have a responsibility to be careful about what we allow to influence them. This doesn't mean we can always prevent someone from hurting us, especially when that person is determined to mistreat us. It means we must recognize that repeated humiliation, harsh criticism, and intimidation are not harmless things. They can affect how we see ourselves, how we make decisions, and what we begin to believe we deserve. A woman may love her husband deeply and sincerely desire for her marriage to succeed, but loving him doesn't mean she must accept his mistreatment as a normal part of married life.

Healthy relationships require sacrifice, patience, understanding, and compromise. There will be times when we must put aside our preferences for the good of the relationship, but there is a tremendous difference between making a loving compromise and surrendering our voice because we're afraid of someone's reaction. Love doesn't require us to become smaller so another person can feel bigger. It doesn't demand that we stop thinking for ourselves or abandon the gifts and abilities Heavenly Father has placed within us. Psalm 139:14 (NLT) says, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!” God made each of us with value, individuality, and purpose. Marriage doesn't cancel these things, and neither does a husband's disapproval. A woman's worth doesn't decrease because the man she loves refuses to recognize it.

We must also understand that verbal abuse is not simply a matter of someone having a bad temper or occasionally saying something hurtful. All of us have spoken words we wish we could take back, but repeated belittling, humiliation, threats, and intimidation are serious matters. Ephesians 4:29 (NLT) tells us, “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” This is God's standard for how we should speak to one another. When a husband continually uses his words to tear his wife down, he is not demonstrating the love and care that God requires. And when she becomes quiet because she has learned that speaking up brings criticism or humiliation, we should not mistake her silence for agreement, contentment, or weakness. Sometimes silence is how a person tries to protect herself from being hurt again.

One of the saddest things about emotional and verbal abuse is that a woman may begin to believe the terrible things she's repeatedly told about herself. She may question her intelligence, doubt her abilities, or feel that she can't do anything right. The woman who once handled difficult situations with confidence may now struggle to make even simple decisions. This doesn't mean she's lost her intelligence or that the gifts God gave her have disappeared. It means she's been living under circumstances that have wounded her confidence and affected her sense of safety. We should never make her feel ashamed for this. Nor should we tell her that if she prayed harder, submitted more, or became a better wife, her husband would stop mistreating her. His abusive behavior is his responsibility, and nothing she has done gives him the right to mistreat her.

Please understand that you are still the person Heavenly Father created you to be. Your voice has value, your thoughts are important, and your life is precious to Him. You don't have to prove your love by accepting humiliation or living in fear. Begin by acknowledging what is happening without blaming yourself for it. Pray for wisdom and seek support from someone trustworthy who understands domestic violence and will take your safety seriously. You don't have to confront your husband or make a sudden decision that could place you in danger. There are people who can help you think through your circumstances and consider safe options. Most importantly, don't allow the mistreatment you've experienced to convince you that this is all your life can ever be. The woman who once spoke with confidence may be quiet today, but she is not without hope. Heavenly Father has not forgotten her, and He has not forgotten you.

“What's Leading You, Faith or Fear?”, written by Alex for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.