Everyone knows this to be true. It is a very simple principle.
But thinking correctly is very difficult. The forces that exert a distorting influence on our reasoning powers are immense. Although God is revealing himself all the time in every aspect of his creation (Romans 1:20) and his Word (Hebrews 1:1-2), Satan is constantly trying to blind us to that revelation (2 Corinthians 4: 4). And indwelling sin mixes with culture, education, and life experience in a fallen world, producing lenses that distort our perception of almost everything.
We should probably fear our susceptibility to think wrong more than we do. We get a picture of how vulnerable we are in Peter when he tries to dissuade Jesus from going to Jerusalem and dying. Jesus rebukes Peter saying, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not thinking about the things of God, but about the things of men” (Matthew 16:23). Peter’s faulty thinking led him to satanic action, and this in the very presence of the Son of God!
According to Jesus, true freedom comes from knowing and believing the truth (John 8:32). Which means we must believe the, because he is the truth (John 16:6). And that means we must trust him with all our hearts and “lean not on our own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5). That, in a nutshell, is the life of faith.
And the life of faith is a struggle (1 Timothy 6:12) because it is very difficult to think straight. That’s why John Piper wrote the book Future Grace: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God. What it does is distill what the Bible teaches about what faith is and how it works, and it gives very helpful and practical instructions on how to identify and combat erroneous thinking and beliefs. That makes this book a treasure. And Multnomah Books will release a new updated edition of Future Grace this month. I recommend it to you. It is one of the most influential books of my life.
We need all the help we can get to counter the massive powers that distort the truth and are trying to bend us into wrong thinking. We must fight to think well. This book will help you do it.