THINK ON THESE THINGS
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
We must understand that we can control the thoughts we have. We can make sure our thoughts don’t turn into vain imaginations causing us to think differently of ourselves than what God has planned for us and called us to be. The children of Israel, who were supposed to go into the Promise Land, couldn’t because of unbelief; and God was displeased with them and said they would never enter His rest. Their unbelief started in their mind. They began to think about what they saw until it overwhelmed them to the place that they began to imagine an outcome that was opposite of what God had said. Even though God had delivered them out of Egypt with no sick or feeble, with silver and gold, with not one of their first born dead, taken them across a dry Red Sea, and then they watched as the Egyptian army drowned in the same Red Sea, they began to over think their next step, and they just couldn’t do it. They began to murmur and complain, and falsely accuse God. They saw something and then, began to think and say about themselves, “We are grasshoppers in our sight and in theirs” (Numbers 13:33). They didn’t control their thought life, and it led them to wandering in the wilderness until they died.
We are supposed to control what we think on. For us to obtain the promises of God, we must control our thought life. If we don’t, we will end up just like the first group who was supposed to go into the promised land but never did. Joshua and Caleb did it and the rest could have controlled their thoughts too. Even when everyone else is not, we can! How? God has given us a list of what to think on, a list that measures if it should be in our thought life. We should use this list like a guard at a door. What we allow in our minds is solely up to us. It’s not up to God, family, friends, TV, the world wide web, or social media. It is totally up to us. We decide what
goes into our thinking, according to this scripture. These are the requirements. It must be true. The true test is, “Does it line up with the Word of God?” because that is the only thing that is true. Even when you are looking at facts, be sure they are really the facts and not someone’s skewed version of the facts. We must only think on those things that are honest, or honorable, and worthy of respect. The word for “honest” could be translated venerable, or not frivolous.
Think on things with reverence concerning God. Think on true godly things. Think on things that are just or righteous. Think on things that line up with our righteous position. We are to think about things that manifest our righteous position, or the fruit of righteousness. We are also to keep our mind thinking pure thoughts. You and I know when a thought is not pure, so if it is not pure, kick that thought out and replace it with a pure godly thought. The thoughts we allow in should only be lovely. No ugly thoughts allowed! If it is not a God report, it is not a good report. If you receive a report from anyone that is not a God report, kick it out. If a thought is not on the list, tell it, “You may not come in. I will not entertain you; you can’t have access to my thought life.” If the thought is full of virtue or an excellent thought, if the thought brings me to a place of praise, then I can think on it. If the thought doesn’t make me want to praise, it is probably not something to mediate on, so kick it out. This is a good list, and we need to use this list daily. If we do, we will be living in a much better “head space!” Think on these things!