Reading Reflection:
October 25, 2011
Thoughts and Their Fruit, Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 9 (Baker, reprint 1999)
This sermon is on Jeremiah 6:19, “The fruit of their thoughts.” Spurgeon has a way of taking the smallest piece of Scripture and driving the nail in good. Here he shows how the smallest sinful thoughts are the eggs of sin. In this passage, he explains how the slippery slope into horrible sin begins:
I do not believe that a man becomes a villain all at once. He puts his soul to school, his thoughts are his teachers, or rather they are the school-books in which his soul reads; and at last he becomes capable of transacting the deeds of the scoundrel. If you think long upon any sin, the chances are that, as soon as the temptation to that sin comes, you will commit it…If you will harbor the thought—if you will ruminate on any sin, turn it over, and advise with it on your pillow; your affability will disarm your fear; and the traitor you have harbored will betray you before your suspicions are aroused. Beware, then, of all thoughts of sin. If you show a thief all the locks and bolts and bars in your house, and tell him how the cellar window could be opened, or the back-door lock be made to give way, do not be surprised if, one of these nights, you should find all your goods stolen. If you introduce these evil thoughts into your habitation, you cannot wander at the consequence, however startled your friends may be at the detection (160).Have you ever said something about a person that shocked you? Maybe it’s because you were harboring resentment, entertaining those thoughts in silence, until they matured into actual slander. Have you ever crossed the line intimately with someone you told yourself you would not do? Maybe you were entertaining thoughts of lust even while you were making pure resolutions. Spurgeon is both convincing and convicting here about the fruit of our thought lives. He explains, “The more we think of sin and become familiar with it, the less terrible does it become to our apprehension.” But he doesn’t leave us in despair. There is also positive fruit that blooms from our thought life. Here is some of the encouragement he gives:
Go to bed each night, and wake up each morning with admiring thoughts of God’s goodness, and with adoring thoughts towards God’s greatness. You will find these thoughts to be like bees, that will come home to you laden with honey. Let your soul be a hive of them. Worship the Lord. Think much of him. Let every blessing you receive make you think of him (169)… Thankful thoughts are well deserving your high encouragement. Get a cage full of these birds of paradise, and let them fly about in the groves of your soul, and sing there at all times. There is no better companion than cheerful gratitude. If a man can but see the mercy of God in everything, instead of always looking at the backside of the picture, he will be happy indeed. The fruit of thankful thoughts will be summer in his soul, even when the winds of winter rage outside. Cultivate thankful thoughts as you cultivate sweet flowers in your garden (170).Well that just makes me thankful to have an amazing God and savior to be thankful for. That is one reason why theology is such a treasure for me. The more I learn about The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from his word, the more worshipful and thankful my thoughts become. So that is my suggestion if any reader would desire to be more satisfied in God—learn more about him.
