Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts (their schemes and devices) because they have not listened and obeyed My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it. – Jeremiah 6:19, Amplified Bible (AMP)

When I was a younger Christian, I suffered from what I believe to be a common misconception among the faithful: what I think about doesn’t matter to God as much as what I do. Good behavior, I thought, was the telltale sign of obedience, so if I let my mind run wild, it was okay so long as I did not follow my wicked thoughts with wicked behavior.

In time, God cured me of my misconception. Verses like Proverbs 23:7, Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 5:28, and Jeremiah 6:19 make it perfectly clear that God is just as interested in our thought lives as He is our outward behaviors. This is partly due to the fact that if we think about something long enough, we will act out our thoughts. But, perhaps more importantly, if our hearts are filled with wickedness, no amount of outward righteousness will fix the fact that our fellowship with God is broken. As long as we regard iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us, and the reason He will not hear us is because righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteousness.

Our thoughts are like seeds of a plant. Sooner or later they will bring forth fruit of one kind or another. The question we should all be concerned with is this: will God approve of the fruit of my thoughts, or will He despise it?