Dr. Nelson L. Price, Retired Pastor

Roswell Street Baptist Church

Marietta, Georgia

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Summary: The peace which passes all understanding is the world’s greatest medicine. Dr. Nelson Price outlines basic steps that help us to lay hold of the peace that only Christ can give.

Your thoughts. What do you think of Christ? As a man thinketh so he is (Pr 23:7). Have you ever taken comfort in such thought as: I am thankful that no man knows my thoughts; at least, I can really be myself in the privacy of my mind?

How would you react if in reality a person were to step up to you and instead of saying, Smile, you are on Candid Camera, they were to say, Pardon me, we’ve been recording your thoughts for the last ten minutes, now would you care to explain?

The electrical impulse from your brain that an encephalograph can now measure may someday be refined and decoded. Perhaps one day anyone with a small transistorized pocket receiver may be able to tune in on your thought life.

This would end lying abruptly. Hypocrisy would be impossible. There would be no withholding of the truth. Tact and politeness would be refined. Criminology would be revolutionized.

Man is on the brink of interpreting man’s thoughts. This seems awesome. However, God has been in the business of knowing man’s thoughts from the beginning. He is aware of our thoughts when they are scarcely formulated (Ps 139:2).

The Bible diagnoses our problem like this: ?For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly? (Mk 7:21). The solution is Romans 12:2: ?Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.? The way a man thinks affects everything about him.

Your health. Dr. Nathan S. Kline, Director of Research of the Rockland State Hospital, said, ?More human suffering has resulted from depression than from any other single disease. Competent pharmaceutical authorities admit that every night in the United States, 10 million pills are taken designed either to tranquilize from agitated mental states or to alleviate depressiveness.?

The drug industry sold 11 million pounds of aspirin in one year. Some statisticians say that represents 7 1/2 billion headaches. That’s about 50 headaches per head per annum. Dr. Paul Tournier, a celebrated Swiss physician and psychiatrist says in his book, The Healing of Persons: ?Most illnesses do not, as is generally thought, come like a bolt out of the blue. The ground is prepared for years, through faulty diet, intemperance, overwork, and moral conflicts, slowly eroding the subject’s vitality ? Man does not die, he kills himself. Every act of physical, psychological, and moral disobedience of God’s purpose is an act of wrong living and has its inevitable consequence.?

The remedy. Anxiety, depression, tension, pressure—how can I keep from suffering their adverse actions? Isaiah 26:3 tells us: ?Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind in stayed on thee.? This peace which passes all understanding is the world’s greatest medicine. How should it be administered? First, sit quietly for a few seconds and dispel all thoughts of worry from your mind. Then read a passage of scripture. Fasten your thoughts on Christ. Focus on the mind of Christ. Sing a stanza from a hymn. Pray, thanking God for His love, mercy, and grace. By that time He will begin to establish your mind in perfect peace.

Your conduct. Many people are more concerned about having a clever mind than a clean mind, a keen mind than a clear mind. What one thinks today will be his conduct tomorrow. A person’s attitudes soon surface in actions.

The person who thinks nobly, acts truly;

The person who thinks clearly, acts effectively;

The person who thinks cleanly, lives rightly.

?As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is? (Pr 23:7; Mk 7:21). The power of God can cast down imaginations ? and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5).

Guard your thoughts, they can be heard in heaven. Eternity’s question was phrased by Christ, What think ye of me? We need to pray: ?Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my thoughts. Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me? (Ps 139:23; 51:10).