“Finally, brothers and sisters, 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. 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.” (Philippians 4:8-9 NIV).
In this scripture Paul is telling us that what we think about is important. Our thought life is important to God.
He encourages us to have positive and uplifting thoughts. What we think about ultimately affects our actions. Our thoughts are like seeds; they grow when we water them.
When we constantly think about something, we give the thoughts energy which eventually turns into action. Positive thoughts lead to positive actions and negative thoughts lead to negative actions.
Paul’s advice is for us to think about what is pure, lovely, true and praiseworthy. Let’s not give Satan access to our minds. He puts negative thoughts into our minds, but we can choose what we do with those thoughts.
Let’s get into the habit of every time a bad thought pops into our minds, we simply exchange them for good thoughts.
Ultimately, we want to live lives that are well pleasing to God, so that begins by us keeping our minds filled with God - honouring thoughts.
Let’s make Jesus our role model in life. When we imitate Jesus, he promises to be with us and fill us with His peace.
~ Contributed by J Robertson, Jerilderie Uniting Church.
