Article January 4, 1993 Issue

Guarding our treasure

The Christian Science Monitor

I remember when my son, then a toddler, would build elaborate structures. Those structures were a treasure to him, and he'd guard them vigilantly. All of us have a treasure that we should defend just as vigorously. It's not a retirement account or a house or a valuable piece of art. It's our thinking—perhaps the most precious treasure we have, regardless of our material state of affairs.

It is really thought that determines what's in our hearts. It is thought that leads us forward or holds us back. Good thoughts always precede good actions; good actions do not follow poor thinking. The quality of our thinking really determines our character. Is there any doubt about our thinking being the most valuable treasure that we have?

What is it that would spoil our thinking? Isn't it evil—the opposite of God? There is a wonderful Bible story which shows that the power of God casts out evil thinking so that our "treasure"—the good, pure, purposeful thinking that genuinely belongs to us—is restored. This story tells of Jesus' encounter with a man living in Gadara. Mark's Gospel says of the man, "Always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." When this man confronted Jesus, the Master said, "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." And the man was healed. His treasure of undisturbed thinking was restored.

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