Take a moment to think about the word lodged. If something gets “lodged,” it becomes “fixed, implanted, or caught in place.” Lodged things stick where they come to rest, and that can spell real danger if we’re talking about a chicken bone in your throat, a bullet in your leg, or a blood clot in your lung. But beyond things, have you ever thought about thoughts getting lodged and turning deadly? Listen in to what the LORD warned through the prophet Jeremiah…
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you? (Jer 4:14)
Even more dangerous than a lodged bullet in your leg or a lodged blood clot in your lung is a wicked thought lodged in your heart. What starts as a sharp swallowed bone of bitterness, hatred, selfishness, impurity, rivalry, sensuality, jealousy, or greed can quite quickly lead to choking on strife, sexual immorality, fits of anger, obscene talk, vengeance, deception, slander, theft, and murder. “These,” Jesus warned us a long time ago, “are what defile a person” (Matt 15:19-20). These ugly, ungodly things get lodged in our hearts and choke us to spiritual death.
Day by day, at various times, uninvited thoughts will cross our minds. That’s the way it’s always been. We can’t keep from seeing or hearing every tempting thing around us. But when we see… when the thought passes through the territory of our hearts… what happens next? How will we respond?
Eve saw that the forbidden fruit was good for food, that it was a delight to her eyes, and desirable to make one wise (Gen 3:6). A deadly thought began to form. Even though her attention was drawn in that direction, Eve didn’t have to allow that thought of transgression to “lodge” within her. But she did. It did. And the world has never been the same. Achan saw among the forbidden spoil of Jericho a beautiful cloak, 200 shekels of silver, a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, and he wanted them (Josh 7:20-21). Even as he was being “lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14), Achan didn’t have to allow that wicked thought to “lodge” within him. But he did. It did. And it cost him everything.
Day by day, in a wide variety of ways, uninvited thoughts cross our minds. Tempting things pass before our eyes. Easy, downhill, self-gratifying paths are presented as a possibility. In those moments, pivotal choices are made. Will we slow down, stop, gaze, give in, and allow those wicked thoughts to lodge within us? Or will we turn away, lift our focus to the best of the best, and walk the pilgrim pathway of 2 Corinthians 10:5?
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Be careful about what gets lodged within you today.