Turn Your Thoughts to Christ

For my Spiritual Formation and Worship class I am reading the book Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard (and will have to write a paper on it this week). Willard talks about how we are spiritually formed, and how all the different parts of who we are- mind, soul, spirit, body- go through a transformation.

In the chapter on how our minds are transformed, Willard used a quote from Thomas Watson’s book All Things for Good published in 1663. I really loved this quote and I want to share it with you.

“The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. ‘When I awake, I am still with thee’ (Psalm 139:18). The thoughts are as travellers in the mind. David’s thoughts kept heaven-road, ‘I am still with Thee’. God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this we may test our love to God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory? Oh, how far are they from being lovers of God, who scarcely ever think of God! ‘God is not in all his thoughts’ (Psalm 10:4). A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge” (quoted in Willard p. 106).

I was really struck reading this quote by how important it is to direct our minds to God. We have so many different thoughts during the day concerning our tasks, worries, relationships, what to fix for dinner, what to wear to work, etc. But I really had to ask myself, how much time do I spend thinking about God? Asking questions, thinking of His goodness, pondering his love for me? This was a good reminder that I need to turn my thoughts more to God, and away from all of the other things that really aren’t important.