"Everything, even our eternal destiny, begins with a thought. Pure thoughts lead to pure acts, pure acts lead a person to pure habits, pure habits lead to pure character, and pure character leads to eternal life. Thoughts may seem like little things, but in reality they are crucial to our eternal salvation. Lofty thoughts lead us into light and to the Savior. Evil thoughts lead us into darkness, along the path that Satan would have us go." -Elder Sheldon F. Child (Ensign January 2003)
Though we do not always have the ability to articulate things as well as the general authorities of the church, this statement does ring true to each of us. We know it is true. We have all had experiences on both sides of the coin--bad thoughts leading to bad actions, and good thoughts leading to positive eternal consequences--but sometimes we do have a question as to how can we constantly distinguish the difference about which thoughts come from which source. In Moroni 7:12-14 states:
12) Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin...
13) But behold, that which is of God inviteth to and enticeth to do good continually...
14) Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren [and sisteren] that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
It is my prayer that we can more readily recognize the source of our thoughts and keep them when they are of God and dispose of them like dog vomit if they are of any other source. "That which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness" (D&C 50:23).
As a possible solution to helping control thoughts (though many of you have your own ways), Alma the Younger provides a good example. When he was suffering for the sins and was completely surrounded by thoughts that were not edifying, he remembered something his father had preached about Christ, and he said "Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me...[help me get these bad thoughts out of my mind]...And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more" (Alma 36:18-19).
We need to practice this, when Satan puts a thought in our mind, first we need to identify its source, and then "cry within our hearts" that Jesus, the Son of God, will helps us get them out and move on and focus on the things of God that edify and uplift.
I know that the Atonement of Christ goes so deep that it can even cleanse our minds of the darkest and ugliest thoughts if we are willing to cry to Him in sincere and heart-felt prayer, as did Alma and then we will remember those thoughts NO MORE.
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