If there is one place where no man can follow you, it is in the deep recesses of your thoughts. There you are all alone, free to form ideas and imaginations only you can have access to. Your pastor won’t see it, your girlfriend would never know and no one in this wide world will ever suspect that those thoughts ever crossed your mind.

So what’s wrong with imaginations that run wild? If your thoughts don’t translate into action, are you doing anything wrong?

In Matthew 9: 4, Jesus posed a very intriguing question to the Pharisees: “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your heart?” At first glance, the question would seem ridiculous. Why would God be so meticulous? Shouldn’t “doing nothing wrong” be enough for Him? Good point. After all, if your thoughts aren’t doing anything harmful to anybody, who cares if you’ve imagined yourself murdering your husband or lying in the arms of Angelina Jolie?

The truth is that we can practically hide all our thoughts underneath a religious façade. We can be angry, murderous, lustful, or indifferent and still manage to look holy. We can even stay quiet and do nothing wrong while our thoughts are in overdrive. Just because we do or say nothing wrong doesn’t mean that nothing’s wrong behind our silence and inaction.

When God required us to be holy, He didn’t mean for us to just behave. That would be as easy as a walk in the park. He actually called us to a life of holiness that goes deeper than what the eyes could see, down through the dark and impenetrable places of our hearts. This is where the true test of character happens. When God takes that trip down through our inner lives, what would He see there?

The King James Version of Hebrews 4: 12 provides an interesting choice of vocabulary. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

In plain English, the verse says that the word of God pierces the part where the soul and spirit meets. It knows the point where the soul ends and where the spirit begins. I don’t know about you but I myself don’t even know they are two separate elements. I only know they’re separate because the books tell me so but I don’t honestly feel them, let alone define there fine points.

More than that, the word of God also discerns and distinguishes the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Where man could only see the surface of the action, the Word of God penetrates the motives behind these actions. This takes our obedience to Christ to a whole new level. Christianity then becomes more than just behaving yourself in front of people. We may get lost in bigger things like giving large donations to charities, doing endless ministries, saving lives in the emergency room, reaching the world for Christ, or feeding the hungry (all noble and necessary work), but when it comes down to the real valuation of what we do, God judges them based on the secret thoughts and unspoken intentions of our hearts.

That sounds scary and comforting at the same time. Scary because God sees through all our alibis and petty excuses; comforting because even when we are sometimes clumsy and we don’t the desired results of our actions, God still knows the driving force behind what we do.

So what kind of thoughts have been criss-crossing your head this week?