Acts 5:17-18

Our feelings turn our thoughts into action. People are always thinking about doing something. Some people think about helping someone in need, while others think about getting even. Many think about making changes in their life. The number of things people think about doing is endless; the list is forever changing. When we change how we think, we change the things we think about doing. An unrighteous person thinks about doing unrighteous deeds. A righteous person thinks about doing good deeds. Both unrighteous and righteous people have many things they think about doing, most of which remain undone. It is good for everyone when an unrighteous person does not follow through on his wicked plans. It is not so good when we do not act upon our good intentions.

For people to get things done it requires more than just thoughts and intentions. It requires motivation. The high priest and his associates thought Christians were dangerous. They thought about how to stop them from spreading the gospel. However, it was when jealousy became a motivator that they put their plans into action. The people giving the apostles love and respect made the Sadducees jealous. They wanted the people’s respect and adoration while at the same time wanting the people to fear them. They were unwilling to acknowledge that they were unworthy of respect. Motivated by their jealousy, they threw the apostles into the public jail.

Christians find motivation in a desire to please God. That does not make us immune to other emotional desires. We need to be aware that negative emotions can motivate us to do bad things. Jealousy is just one example of a negative emotions. Christians are not immune to the temptations of negative emotion. If we feed those emotions by thinking upon them, they will grow in strength. They will turn our thoughts into actions, and our actions will be unrighteous. The Holy Spirit helps us keep our thoughts and emotions Christ-centered. Christ-centered emotions will turn our thoughts into Christian actions.