Maybe it’s just me…but I have a suspicion that I’m not.
My thoughts and the desires of my heart sometimes are so horrifying, so wrong, so heinous it shocks me…
The thing about these thoughts and desires is that they surface all on their own. They arise without bidding. I didn’t ask for these thoughts or desires. They just happen.
The issue is not that these thoughts and desires happen. That they do only goes to prove how right God is when he tells us “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9).
The crux of the problem comes down to whether we choose to allow these thoughts to hold us captive and whether we allow these desires to take residence in our hearts. It’s the entertaining, welcoming, and giving space to these thoughts and desires that is the problem. For by giving these thoughts and desires residence and space, sin is conceived, and sin – unless it is repented and checked – leads to sinful behavior.
So check yourself.
Don’t be ashamed that these thoughts and desires happen. That’s part of what it means to be a fallen creature.
But if you allow these thoughts and desires to take you captive and take up residence…well, that’s all on you.
Praxis: Faith in Action 