Think on These Things
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8
Philippians 4:8 invites us to point our minds and thoughts in a particular direction, “think on these things,” tells us. “These things,” include eight qualities or virtues that we are to direct our thoughts to. The Apostle is telling us that if we want the God of peace in our lives than what we apply our minds to is of paramount importance.
These things have to do with truth, honor, justice, purity, love, excellent and worthy of praise. It is a challenge to allow God to transform our inner thoughts, which determines so much of who we are. This is a tall task in our contemporary culture that that not only bombards us non-stop with godless chatter and immorality, but fills our minds with continual nonsense.
Our minds can only be transformed as we learn to meditate on God’s word and yield to the work of God’s Spirit within us. We have so much Scripture that promises us transformation. Psalm 1 tells us that as we learn to “meditate on God’s word day and night we can become spiritually healthy and fruitful, like trees planted besides water that bears fruit in season.”
