We Are Not Condemned By Our Thoughts But By Our Deeds

“It is not because evil thoughts come to us that we are condemned, but only because we use the evil thoughts. It can happen that from these thoughts we suffer shipwreck, but it can also happen that because of them we may be crowned” (From the Wisdom of The Desert Fathers, collected by Thomas Merton). As is always so, true wisdom is found in simplicity. This simple statement reveals a wisdom that could also be called by a different name, a name that has come close to being forgotten in our present times… “common sense”.

Suppose we are honest with ourselves, with even a modicum of self-awareness, or through a more disciplined and regular habit of self-examination. In that case, we know we are sometimes guilty of having ‘evil thoughts’ of one kind or another. This is not foreign to us. These thoughts can take many forms. Some of the more familiar might be angry thoughts of revenge that come to us when we have been hurt by another, or have been treated unjustly in our own eyes. They might be thoughts of hatred, or the many forms of prejudice common in every age and to all peoples. They might take the form of explicit and powerful lustful images and thoughts. Thoughts are one thing, actions are another. This is the distinction made in the above parable from the sayings of the Desert Fathers. Jesus makes the difference very clear in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel account, Mt. 5: 1-48.

God gave us the gifts of intellect, conscience, and free will. With these God-given gifts, we have the capacity, the power, and in a very real sense, the burden, or the responsibility, to use them properly to come to know the differences between what is good and what is evil, and what is truly right and what is truly wrong. It is, therefore, a common duty to all of us to do what is necessary to learn these things, to practice them, and to teach them not just with our words, but more importantly with our deeds. As we mature, we have a continuing, indeed, lifelong responsibility to deepen our moral knowledge and to practice the habits of personal responsibility to choose good and to avoid evil. This is a matter of self-discipline, of freely choosing to study, to read scripture, and to pray regularly. It is a matter of developing the habits (virtues) of prudence, that is, of knowing what is right behavior and when to act, and the courage to choose what is truly right and good more and more regularly, no matter the personal costs.

“Evil thoughts” come to us unbidden. They are often quite troubling, unnerving, and disturbing. They can consume a lot of energy, enough so that we can feel physically tense, even drained by them. We often find it difficult to control them. But the same Desert Father, Abbot Pastor, tells us. “You cannot prevent distracting thoughts from coming into your head. Your job is to say No to them.” When those ‘evil’ thoughts enter your mind, recognize them for what they are and their danger to your mental and moral state, and turn them over to God’s sure and certain help to overcome them. Remember, too, thoughts are only that. They are not what condemns us. If we steep ourselves in them, if we let them take control of our words and become the source of our deeds, that is another matter; because of them we could, indeed, “suffer shipwreck”.

On the other hand, if we develop the habit of recognizing them for what they are, that is, the foolish efforts of the Evil One to turn our hearts and minds away from God and our heavenly destiny, and willingly choose to turn away from them, it could be said of them that, “because of them we may be crowned.” As disturbing, even as frightening as these thoughts can be, they are only thoughts. But if we bend to them and they become the source of our evil deeds, they will bring us to even greater suffering. If, though, we habitually deny their pretense of power through prayer and faith in the loving mercy and generous grace of God, we will become stronger in faith and our moral character, and we will come to know, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, [that will] keep [our] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 7).