Digging Deeper: Thinking Time
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
THINKING TIME
I just love the message of Philippians 4:8. Something about it always leaves me feeling so encouraged! I guess that is one of those funny little things about the Word of God; it always seems to know how to get to the heart!
There is something to be said for taking the time to discipline our minds. The Bible speaks about taking every thought captive, and intentionally dwelling on things that are true, honorable, right, etc. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” We are constantly surrounded by our own thoughts, and to a large degree, our thoughts shape our reality.
Everything that we think about will form the lens by which we perceive the world. If we are constantly thinking about all the things that are going wrong, we will start to see every little thing and interaction through that lens of wrongness, instead of seeing the blessings of God. That is one of the reasons Paul instructs us to intentionally think about that which is “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.”
Philippians 4:6 and 4:8 really tie together – that intentionally dwelling on the Good (God) things, will help us develop a spirit of thankfulness, which then will lead to us dwelling on the good things, which continues to build a cycle of renewing our minds day by day!
So, today, take a minute and try something. Instead of watching whatever catastrophe has happened in the news, or seeing who has been dragged through the mud, take a few minutes to pray, and spend time with God telling Him the things you see that are good and admirable, and ask Him to reveal more pure and praiseworthy things to you! Prayer does not always need to be laying down a spiritual to-do list; sometimes it can just be spending time with the Lord, and thinking about His Good things together!
Josh Neal and his family have been members of NorthStar Church since 2016. He is married to his lovely wife, Mallory, and has three children: Ember, Clover, and Jack. He loves being a part of the prayer ministry at NorthStar, and enjoys everything from Georgia Tech Football, to hunting, to writing.