What Are You Thinking?

The Christian thought for a minute. He responded, “Well, let me tell you what my gospel will do for that man. We will put a new man in that suit of clothes.” You see, this is precisely the difference. You do not alter the quality of someone’s living until you alter the quality of their thinking.

It’s like taking a pig and washing it and putting perfume and a pink ribbon on it and setting it on a nice satin pillow. The very first time it sees a mud puddle, it’s going to go “oink” and head right back to the mud! The only way you’re going to change that pig’s activity is to somehow alter its pig mentality.

The Bible says that humans have a pig mentality. We have a propensity toward the baser things of life. Therefore, I don’t care how much you try to alter society (and I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be involved in some of those things). You can take the unregenerate person and put them in a regenerate environment and it’s just a matter of time for their unregenerate nature to absolutely destroy that new environment. We see it happen in housing complexes. We see it happening in various parts of society. Why? Mankind has got to be altered on the inside first. So, it doesn’t matter what you try to do to alter the quality of your living. First, you’ve got to alter the quality of your thinking.

Philosophers and writers have known this truth and have said this in different ways. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” I 19