WHAT KINDS OF THOUGHTS FILL YOUR THINKING?
As the apostle Paul closed his letter to the Philippians, he urged them to always rejoice in the Lord. He gave them a couple of spiritual strategies for joyful living. One, was that they should turn their worries into prayers, not being anxious about anything, but praying about everything. The other, was to be careful about their thought-life, what their minds meditated on. He gave them a list of topics for their mental meditations: “Whatever things are true… noble… just… pure… lovely… of good report… virtuous… and praiseworthy.”
Paul’s instructions about joyful living clearly involve taking care about our state of mind. Consider the effect of having the opposite kinds of thoughts than Paul encourages. When we are anxious, meditating on things that are false, ignoble, unjust, impure, ugly, of bad report, without virtue, and not praiseworthy, we risk losing the joy of the Lord.
Looking through the list of joy-killing thoughts, which ones plague you the most? And what triggers such thoughts? Is it the news, social media, some television show or movie? What are you putting in your mind? Remember the mantra of computer programmers: GIGO–– Garbage In, Garbage Out. What kinds of thoughts fill your thinking?
PRAYER: Dear Father, we begin our days talking to You. For meditating on Your Word and hearing Your voice is the source of our joy. We are often self-defeated and anxious because we have filled our minds with bad things. Forgive us. Help us to think with the mind of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.