Watch Those Thoughts

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

WATCH THOSE THOUGHTS

Phil 4:8-9

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

NIV

This is all about the renewing of our minds. In the flesh, it is not the most natural of thoughts that are enumerated for us here. Many times we are not thinking about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and excellent and praiseworthy. However, as we are in the process of having our mind renewed we do wander into those thoughts from time to time. It does seem all those types of thoughts enter our minds more often, but we still have to admit they are not our central theme of thinking at all times. Why does our mind wander off into other thoughts is still a mystery. We would think we should be in complete control of our thought life, but it seems it has a life of its own. Our brain, our thoughts are part of our body, and as such should be under our control. It should be simply a matter of choice as to what we think about, yet there come thoughts that simply show up that are not on this list. Are those thoughts coming from the old mind, the one or part of our mind that has not yet been completely renewed? How is that possible if we have given our life, our body over to Christ? If we no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in us, then all our thoughts should be within the parameters of this list. We do make every effort to live our lives based on the truth, so then we have to be thinking about what is true most of the time. At least that is a good start on this list. Perhaps the idea here is that when temptations are presented to us, we have the opportunity to consider how we should think and having the knowledge of this list should give us the advantage to resist the wrong type of thinking regarding any particular temptation. If we did keep our thoughts contained in the ideas of this list, then our relationships with others should certainly improve. We would never have thoughts of envy, jealousy, bitterness, or anger toward anyone. We would absolutely never gossip about anyone, nor would we be judgmental, or critical of them. In addition, we would never have prideful or boastful thoughts about how good we are, or in regard to any, what we might think are great accomplishments.  If we were able to have all these types of thoughts in the forefront of our mind, then perhaps we might also be able to expect others to learn and receive or hear or see in us something to put into practice. How can we be a good example for others if we are not thinking about such thoughts listed, and living our lives based on that type of thinking? This is where the Spirit has to be a great benefit, as one of the fruit he manifests in us is self-control. So then having this list as a reminder, we continue the renewing of our minds, with the help of the Spirit. Let us watch those thoughts.