Second Thoughts

1Corinthians 10:13

 

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts the other day, and the host had one of my favorite actors on as a guest.  I enjoyed their conversation (rather lengthy).  The host asked a question about the guest’s Christian belief.  The guest shared several reasons why he believed the truth in the Bible about Jesus; virgin birth, sinless life, death on the cross, and the resurrection.  Then, the guest said something very profound.  He stated he knew Jesus was real because of what he feels in his heart because of his salvation.  The host seemed a bit confused and asked him to tell more.  The guest said that he knew he was a sinful being, and would have not survived this long in his life if it hadn’t been for the Holy Spirit helping him with his “second thought”. 

The guest said that everyone’s first thought is always a “pre-wired” response to the circumstances.  When he followed through with that response, it very rarely ever turned out well.  It’s the “second thought”, the one tempered by the Holy Spirit, which always results in better outcomes. 

Wow!  What a great truth this is!!  Think about the examples we have in the Bible that support this idea.  In the garden with Adam and Eve, once they ate of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, what was Adam’s first response to God?  Eve made me do it.  What was Eve’s first response?  The serpent made me do it.  Maybe they didn’t have the benefit of the Holy Spirit, however I am willing to guess that if they had a chance to think about their answer, they probably would have provided a different answer instead of blaming others for their poor decisions.   

Now, I’m not saying we should never trust our instincts, because some of our instincts are probably more just common sense.  If we are standing in the road, and a car is coming, we probably are not going to ponder whether we should get out of the way. 

 

Life is full of events where we are tempted by sinful circumstance, where we have to choose what our next step is.  Consider how in our own lives that our “second thought” has saved us trouble and sorrow from our first instinct action.  God’s Holy Spirit is so much more powerful than anything we can try to face on our own.  I’m so thankful that the Lord has made an escape for us and we can rely on His Spirit guiding to help us to make Godly decisions, when we allow ourselves that “second thought”.