Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools . . .
Prolific author Max Lucado titles his latest book Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Thoughts (Thomas Nelson, 2025). Currently, Max serves as the teaching minister of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, TX. Thoughts, Max observes, buzz around like a swarm of bees. Some make honey, others inflict pain. However, as you tame your thoughts, a ‘new’ you begins to emerge. Hence, in the process, God moves you from worm to butterfly, from clay-like to Christlike. Because God loves you too much to let you lead a life marked by poor thinking. For stinking thinking represents a spiritual problem. As a result, it requires a spiritual solution — which God provides.
Most significantly, Max notes, your first and highest calling is to stand vigil over your mind. Therefore, mind management is God’s gift to you. Although this gift means nothing if you fail to use it. Thus, as we submit to Scripture, healthy thinking happens. God, and God alone, possesses the power to tell you what to think — to tame your thoughts. In contrast, Satan’s greatest weapon consists of his arsenal of untruths. Consequently, you must get serious in order to tame your thoughts. God invites you to treat the lies of hell with the words of heaven, Thus, don’t treat Scripture as a guest, occasional visitor, or roomie. Instead, God’s Word is to live in us.
Jesus doesn’t offer a peace like His. Rather, He offers His very own peace. Furthermore, deep-seated, deeply rooted joy is not a shallow, easily extinguished mood. Nor is it a naivete about the challenges of life. Jesus, in contrast, enjoyed a resilient joy. However, we tend to major in a contingent joy. When we need contagious joy. And though joy may take a long time, it always remains an option. Therefore, Max exhorts, set your mind on God’s presence. In addition, welcome God’s voice, a voice that reminds us that the battle belongs to the Lord. The big idea of the Bible centers on God’s fight for you, not your fight for God.
In conclusion, Pastor Lucado emphasizes, like Job in the Old Testament, grip God’s sovereignty. Never let it go. Hold on for dear life until you know why. While our inconsistencies continue, they never disqualify. Because God underscores our lives with grace. Thus, salvation is a gift, not a salary. On the other hand, legalism is a salary, not a gift. Above all, God’s hold on you never depends upon your hold on Him. Also, grace fosters voluntary obedience. But you must really believe God loves you in order to really believe that He will help you. For God’s guided by love, not expediency. And, although you cannot always change your circumstances, you do control your contemplation.
Finally, Max counsels:
“Christ . . . has a grand dream for you, my friend. He is shaping you into the image of one worthy of walking the streets of heaven. And it all began with a simple choice: tame your thoughts; think about what you think about. I hope you will.”