For a few minutes today, you and I are going
to have a good heart -to -heart talk about something
that's vitally important to all of us. I want
to read just one verse of Scripture. It's found
in the 23rd chapter of Proverbs, the 7th verse.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. There
it is. As a man thinketh in his heart, as you
think in your heart, you are that person. If
you really want to know what Catherine Coon is
like, if you really want to know what I am like,
the real me, then know my thoughts. Know what
I have in my heart. All the great teachers of
every age have declared this simple truth to
be factual. That a man's life, a man's character,
are the result of his own thoughts, his own ideals.
It was a philosophy as old as civilization. but
as fresh and as new and as up -to -date as the
Word of God. Sometimes I think we forget how
practical the Word of God really is. If you really
want to know how to live, then start living according
to the Word of God. Start reading God's Word.
Sometimes we think, you know, that folk are so
old -fashioned who... still believe in the Word
of God, bless you. If you want real wisdom, if
you really want to be an intelligent person,
if you really want facts and you want real truth,
get back again to the Word of God. As he sinketh
in his heart. So is he. Oh, sure. I can remember
the son of the family who lived next door to
us when I was a child in Concordia, Missouri.
They were not a wealthy family. In fact, they
were very poor. But even as kids, we used to
spend... Hours and hours just dreaming and talking
about what we'd like to do and what we'd like
to be. And the youngster of whom I am speaking
was very poor in his youth, had known none of
the advantages that so many young people count
essential. He'd started out with nothing to build
on except what he was within himself. But he
had known what he wanted to be. He knew what
he wanted to do. And he kept his dream. He kept
his ideals. He kept these ideals and these dreams
everlastingly before him. He had tried to live
the life that he imagined. And in the end, his
dream became reality. And today, he's a very,
very successful businessman in Concordia, Missouri.
And yet, in reality, he did not have the advantages
that many of the other young people in Concordia,
Missouri had. And few, if any, had the success
in later life that he has now and that he is
enjoying. You know, sometimes I am of the opinion
that young people count too much on luck and
chance these days. Oh, I hear them talking. Perhaps
if you had young people in your family, they're
constantly talking about this thing of luck.
And then, you know, if somebody really makes
it to the top, if somebody's really successful,
they'll say, oh, it was just luck. or he was
just lucky and he was just there at the right
time and it was a matter of chance. I guess that's
one reason why I'm taking the time to have this
little heart -to -heart talk because it's one
of the most practical things I can bring you
today. It is my firm conviction that there isn't
such a thing as luck. You'll never make me believe
that there is such a thing as just chance that
things just happen. No. A man is literally what
he thinks, his character being the complete sum
of all of his thoughts. I cannot think evil thoughts
and be a good person. If my mind is full of evil,
if my mind is full of hatred, If my mind is full
of jealousy, prejudice, then one thing is dead
sure. I cannot be, I will not be a person with
a wonderful character. I will not be a good person.
My deeds will not be good. Because I... am what
I think. You are this very hour what you think.
Your character, my character, being the complete
sum of my thoughts. As the plant springs from
and could not be without the seed, so every act
of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought
and could not have appeared without them. That
is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering
are its fruits. Thus does a man garner in the
sweet and the bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which
may be intelligently cultivated, or it may be
allowed to run wild. But whether cultivated or
neglected, it must and will bring forth fruit.
And it's just like that. There's some things
you and I can argue from now to doomsday, but
we'll not change the laws of God. Oh, there are
those who try to disregard the fact that whatsoever
a man soweth, that must he also reap. They say
it's old -fashioned. Take this present generation.
They have all the disregard in the world for
that portion of the Word of God. But as surely
as a person sows, they're going to reap. Oh,
maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not
five years from now, but as surely as there's
a god on his throne, as surely as there is a
sowing, so surely must there be a reaping. It's
going to come. It has to come. How often I told
you about Dr. Trumbull, And the atheist, very
boldly, had challenged Dr. Trumbull. He said,
I am an atheist. I disregard the Lord's Day.
I do not go to church. I make no pretense whatsoever
of serving God. of living for God. And yet, he
said, I have a next -door neighbor. His farm
joins mine. A devout Christian. They have daily
Bible reading. When Sundays come, it's the day
of worship. He is what the world would call a
devout Christian. And now he says, it's fall.
My... Crops have been great. I've had bumper
crops this year. My silos are filled. My orchards
had wonderful fruit. My next -door neighbor has
not fared so well. It's now October, and I really
am ahead. I have the better crops, the better
harvest. Dr. Trumbull, how would you answer that?
And Dr. Trumbull just turned the sheet of paper
over, and this is all that he wrote on it. God
does not make full settlement in October. Mm
-hmm. person gets by with one thing with Almighty
God. Know that. And so it is true when it comes
to man's thoughts. Get it? A man's mind may be
likened to a garden, which may be intelligently
cultivated. are allowed to run wild, you can
do whatever you want with your own mind. But
never forget, whether cultivated or neglected,
it must and it will bring forth fruit. And if
no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance
of useless weed seeds will fall therein. and
will continue to produce their kind. Be careful
what you take into your mind. Be careful what
you allow your mind to feed on. I'm so dead sure
about what I'm saying to you just now that I
will tell you the truth. I would no more permit
myself to look upon dirty things. I would no
more think of reading trashy literature than
anything in the world. There are books that you
could not pay me enough to read. I'm repeating.
I think so much. Of my mind, I am so sold on
this truth from God's word that you could not
pay me to read certain literature, books that
I know that people are reading today. Be careful
what you take into your mind. Be careful what
your young son, that teenager of yours, is reading,
is seeing. It will leave its imprint upon that
life. Whatsoever a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. Just as the gardener cultivates his
plot, keeping it free from weeds, And growing
the flowers and the fruits which he requires.
So many a man tend the garden of his mind. Weeding
out all the wrong, the useless, the impure thoughts.
Cultivating toward perfection the flowers and
the fruits of right. The things that are useful.
Pure thoughts. And by pursuing this process.
A man sooner or later discovers that he's the
master gardener of his thoughts, the director
of his life. It's amazing what happens. He also
reveals within himself the laws of thoughts,
and he understands with every increasing accuracy
how the thought forces operate in the shaping
of his character. And his destiny. A thought
makes a deed. A deed makes a life. And a life
brings the destiny. And yet it all goes back
to the thought. This must be vitally important
or it wouldn't be in the word of God. I read
it again. For as he thinketh in his heart, So
is he. A man is buffeted by circumstances so
long as he believes himself to be the creature
of outside conditions. But when he realizes that
he is a creative power, that he may command the
hidden soil and the seeds of his being out of
which circumstances grow, He then becomes the
rightful master of himself. Good thoughts bear
good fruit and bad thoughts, bad fruit. It's
just that simple. When you focus on God, when
you focus your mind on the things of God, It
is amazing what happens to your entire life.
You are never defeated. You will never be defeated
as long as you know that underneath all the uncertainties
of life is your Heavenly Father. You wake up
in the morning. You say, God is with me. He's
my Heavenly Father. Oh, I've got a big day. I've
got a busy day. I know that there'll be things
that've got to be licked. Oh, dear me. I've got
problems that in the natural. There's no way
out. There's no way backward. There's no way
forward. But if God is with me and I know that
he's my heavenly father, with him we can lick
this thing and you go out of your front door
knowing that you have all the powers of heaven
on your side. You know that God is with you.
You know that you're his child. Why, bless you,
who? Can lick a man like that? I just ask you
confidentially. Because a man like that won't
be defeated. He'll not take no for an answer.
He'll not take defeat for an answer. He's not
going to drown. He's not going to hit the bottom
of despair. Because he knows to whom he belongs.
Mentally he knows. Not only mentally. He's had
that wonderful experience and he knows that he's
passed from death unto life. Life everlasting.
And that wonderful experience makes him an heir
of God. Makes him a joint heir with Christ Jesus.
He has that assurance and his mind keeps assuring
him of these facts and these glorious truths.
And so, therefore, he doesn't focus his thoughts
upon the object. He doesn't focus his thoughts
on defeat. He doesn't focus his mind on the bigness
of the problem. He focuses his mind on God, his
partner. He focuses his mind on the victory.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith. Oh, this is so practical. This
is so wonderful. Into your hands will be placed
the exact results of your own thoughts. You will
receive that which you earn, no more, no less.
Whatever your present environment may be, you'll
fall, you'll remain, or you'll rise with your
thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become
as small as your controlling desire and as great
as your dominant... Aspiration. As a man thinketh,
so is he. No, the thoughtless, the ignorant,
those who only see the apparent effects of things
and not the things themselves, talk of luck.
of fortune and of chance. Seeing a man grow rich,
they say, how lucky is that man. Observing another
becoming very intellectual, they'll exclaim,
oh, how highly favored he is. And during the
saintly character and the wide influence of another,
they say, my, how chance aids him at every turn.
They do not see the trials, the failures, the
struggles which these men have encountered in
order to gain their experience. They have no
knowledge of the sacrifice that that one has
made, of the undaunted efforts that have been
put forth, of the faith that they have exercised,
that they might overcome As a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he.