Think on these things…
A few months ago I woke up hearing “think on these things.” I knew the passage but I went to read it. These words are found in Philippians 4:8(AMP) Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].
While meditating on this passage I wondered how many thoughts does the human mind have each day? I found that the average person has more than 6,000 thoughts in a single day. With so many thoughts how many of them align with Paul’s admonition to us? In this passage to the Philippians Paul instructs them to deliberate, evaluate and compare their thoughts to align with good. By doing this continually it renews your mind. We have to actively choose this line of thinking.
Upon further meditation, I realized that what you think on determines how you respond, your attitude, and your posture. So really what are we thinking on and how can we change our thoughts? How do we respond when we are bombarded and overwhelmed? How do we maneuver into the lovely and pure when there is chaos? Mind you the author of this book was sending this encouragement while in prison himself.
On Bible.org I found the following thoughts: Mark Twain wrote, “What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those other things, are his history.” (Reader’s Digest [1/93], p. 155).It continued by saying, I would modify Twain by saying that our thought life forms the basis for and is largely revealed in our actions and words. But Twain’s comments correctly affirm that our thought life composes a major part of who we really are. Jonathan Edwards put it this way: “The ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern them” (source unknown). Thus it is crucial for each of us to bring our thought life into submission to Jesus Christ by learning to think biblically about every aspect of life.
Reminders are beautiful especially when it comes through scripture. And this one regards something we do over 6 ,000 times a day unconsciously most of the time. What are the things that we are thinking about? Do we take the time to truly meditate and ponder on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable? How can we put this into greater practice? Truly our lives are lived through the lense of our thinking…so today I ask, what does your lense reflect?
