Pastor's book aims at ‘taming’ thought-life before sin begins

LAKELAND (FBW)—The pastor could not believe he had done what he always assured his wife would never happen—he had been unfaithful to his marital vows. Thinking about the prospect of sharing this stunning news with her and their children, as well as his church family, he was crushed.

"Oh, God, I have given up all we had taken years to build...and for what? An adrenalin rush? A testosterone thrill? A short-lived pleasure? An adolescent fling? I now realize—all too late— that I got major ripped-off in that exchange."

Jay Dennis was unfaithful to his wife—that is, in the first few pages of his book, Taming Your Private Thoughts, as a thought experiment— and warning—to consider the consequences that sin can have on Christians, including those who are in full-time ministry.

"Unfortunately, I have known too many Christian men and women who either did not adequately rehearse the consequences of potential sin choices - or simply chose to act in spite of their better judgment," Dennis writes.

The pastor of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland will be among the featured speakers this month at the Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference in Tampa which will focus on the subject of purity. Dennis believes purity—for pastors and any Christian—begins with a biblically disciplined thought life.

Taming Your Private Thoughts, which has been out for more than a year and one-half, is Dennis’ effort, along with his collaborator, Marilyn Jeffcoat, at helping believers get control of an area of the Christian life that many refuse to confront.

And with the proliferation of the information age and its bombardment of images and sounds on television, in the movies, and especially the Internet luring believers away from godly thoughts, Dennis believes the matter of thought life is one that is of urgent relevance for Christians today.

Despite the fact that psychologists believe that humans have ten thousand thoughts per day — equaling more 3.5 billion per year, Christians need not see these staggering numbers and today’s culture as a losing war for the thought life, according to Dennis.

"I want people to see this as a winnable war. (Christians should not have) a concession mentality where we say, ‘I’m defeated, there’s now way to get on top of this,’" he said in an interview with Florida Baptist Witness.

"It’s a very winnable war, but you’ve got to want to win it first of all and then we have to understand that it’s a day-by-day, hour-by-hour process. ... It’s a daily process and it begins with an open Bible."

Dennis said that he wants Christians to not see the thought life as only a negative, but also a positive.

"Every church, every missionary on the field, every hospital that’s been built in the name of Jesus Christ, every institution that’s been built because of Christians began with the thought life. God is a God of creativity; He has given us imagination. Let’s utilize that as a tool to do something great for God," Dennis said.

Drawing on Philippins 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things," Dennis argues for replacement thought therapy.

"Replace the wrong, sinful thoughts with God thought, and we can only do that when we’re in the Word of God," he told the Witness.

"I believe that if you would interview people who have fallen morally, not just in the ministry but also outside the ministry, at some point they can take you back to a time when they lost intimacy with God; they lost a passion for Jesus Christ. We need to stress meditation on the Word God. ... We chew on it, we think about it and we think it through and ask ourselves how I can I apply this to my life."

After examining the thought life from how sin begins in the minds of Christians and considering the consequences of sin, Dennis offers a plan to break sin’s control on a believer’s thought life using the acronym, "S.T.O.P."

S - Sinful thoughts confessed.
T - Think on these things
O - Order every thought
P - Pursue Christ-mindedness

Dennis’ surprising — and fictional — admission of marital infidelity as a thought exercise in the first chapter has hit too close to home for some ministers, he said. One former pastor told Dennis, "You rehearsed the consequences and wrote them down; I lived it. And it’s absolutely true what you said."

"If a pastor or staff leader does not begin to control his thought life it’s going to show up in his ministry, it’s going to effect the way he deals with people," Dennis asserted.

Dennis was quick to add that the matter of thought life is not simply a problem of lustful, sexually immoral thoughts, but is also an issue of fears, insecurities, worries and other thoughts that harm a pastor’s ministry.

He also was careful to add, "I’m not talking about positive thinking" promoted by another prominent author. "I’m talking about ... replacement thought therapy; replace those negative, worrisome, sinful thoughts with thoughts of God, right thoughts borne out of the Scripture, renewed thoughts."

"As pastors and leaders we have got to begin to develop a disciplined thought life for the sake not only of our own lives, but for the sake of the ministry."