“Think about such things.”
“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.” - Philippians 4:8
Have you ever found yourself reading a passage of Scripture like this and thinking to yourself, “I mean, a great ideal, but not really possible, is it? Seriously. Can someone really think about these things all the time?
That is what Paul is suggesting here, isn’t it? I mean, check out his word choice in some of the preceding verses:
Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS.
Do not be anxious about ANYTHING.
In EVERY situation.
If Paul wasn’t all too serious about the absolutes here, wouldn’t he have said something like this:
Rejoice in the Lord as you are able.
Try not to be anxious, but don’t worry if you do a little.
As much as is possible for you, because I know we all have different situations.
Paul, along with all the biblical authors, were very intentional about what they said and how they said it. My focus for this post is to address the question, “Can someone really think about these things all the time?”
In short, I do believe the answer is yes. But not without much intentionality. Here is what I mean.
The other day I woke up singing an old worship song. This has become quite common for me. Some days it is a song my kids are learning during school-time with their mom that has some Scriptural teaching in it. Other times, it is a bible verse. This doesn’t only happen when I wake up either. I actually find myself often throughout the day reflecting, unbeknownst to me initially, on a passage of Scripture, a truth about Jesus, or singing some worship song. It is quite refreshing.
I must confess, though, this hasn’t always been the case. When I was younger, especially in college, my first thought upon waking might have been an emotion to the outcome of a game the night before (good or bad), an inappropriate movie quote from a movie I watched recently (or the night before), or something not really of value. Throughout the day I might have been able to retell you all the stats from the games the night before or goofed around with my friends quoting those same inappropriate movie quotes. In all honesty, none of my thoughts were anything close to the words Paul chose to use such as true, noble, or pure.
What changed?
There was a moment in my life when I took genuine stock of my heart. Truth be told, I did not like what I saw. I had, supposedly, been “walking with Jesus” for many years at this moment in my life. If that were true, why did my heart look less like Jesus and more like a dumpster fire? If that were true, how could I read a rather elementary teaching like, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right…” and somehow do the complete opposite? These things concerned me. Rather than wallow in self pity, I decided to take certain truths, or better yet, commands in Scripture, and chose to live them out. Specifically, I took an invitation like the one we started this post with and asked myself, “Okay, what must I do to think about such things?” But I didn’t simply ask myself these questions. I also proposed them to the One that could give me the best answers to my questions. What happened shocked me. At least initially. Here is a short list of the things God invited me to do:
Give up my fandom.
Give up the TV.
For a season, I stopped watching sports altogether. I have slowly welcomed them back in my life, but without a TV or online subscription, it is kind of difficult to watch them anyways. I believe these two decisions were the absolute best things I could have ever done for my spiritual life, and in turn, my whole life. Giving up sports forced me to reflect on other things throughout the day. Deciding not to have a TV forced me to choose other activities in my down time. What I gave up was important, but what I replaced them with was even more important. With the extra time I began to read a lot. Specifically, I read many autobiographies of missionaries and others who lived radical lives for Jesus. These have shaped me into the person I am today, and I believe, even cultivated my heart for an eventual call to the mission field. I also read my Bible more. Rather than thinking through unimportant statistics throughout the day, I actually reflected on passages of Scripture. In addition to these, I spent more time with my wife. Rather than spending Sunday afternoon in front of the TV watching round 4 of the latest major tournament or enjoying the rise of the Detroit Lions, I was taking walks with my wife and reflecting on the more beautiful things of life.
Slowly but surely, “thinking about such things” became a reality for me. It did not happen overnight. I still have moments where I must “take a thought captive” and give it to Jesus. Yet, these moments are much easier now. I catch them sooner and have learned to change them to thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, and lovely.
I encourage you to take stock of your own heart today. Then ask Jesus what He thinks about it. Ask Him what you can do to make your heart look more like His. I must warn you, though. Chances are He will answer you. So, be prepared to make the necessary changes He presents to you. I have one more question for you.
Are you willing?
