Everybody knows this is true. It’s a very simple principle.

But right thinking is very hard. The forces wielding a distorting influence over our reasoning powers are immense. Though God is revealing himself all the time in every aspect of his creation (Romans 1:20) and his Word (Hebrews 1:1–2), Satan is constantly trying to blind us to that revelation (2 Corinthians 4:4). And indwelling sin mixes with culture, education, and life experience in a fallen world, producing lenses that warp our perceptions of almost everything.

We probably need to fear our susceptibility to wrong thinking more than we do. We get a picture of just how vulnerable we are to it in Peter when he tries to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem and to death. Jesus rebukes Peter saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23). Peter’s defective thinking led him to satanic action — and this in the very presence of the Son of God!

According to Jesus, true freedom comes from knowing and believing the truth (John 8:32). Which means we must believe him, because he is the truth (John 16:6). And that means we need to trust him with all our heart and “not lean on [our] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). That, in a nutshell, is the life of faith.

And the life of faith is a fight (1 Timothy 6:12) because right thinking is very hard. That’s why John Piper wrote the book Future Grace: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God. What he does is distill what the Bible teaches about what faith is and how it works, and he gives very helpful, practical instruction on how to identify and battle wrong thinking and belief. That makes this book a treasure. And Multnomah Books is releasing a new, updated edition of Future Grace this month. I commend it to you. It’s one of the most influential books in my life.

We need all the help we can get to counter the massive truth-distorting powers that are trying to bend us into wrong thinking. We must fight to think right. This book will help you do that.