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| “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 |
One of my earliest memories of a sermon in church—I was probably six or seven years old—is of a visiting evangelist preaching about our thought life. I know child development experts say that a six- or seven-year-old cannot understand such an abstract concept as a “thought life.” But, I clearly remember at least feeling I understood what he meant when he said, “What you think about, you become.”
In those days, I was thinking a lot about radio broadcasting. I had seen a black and white television program—black and white because we only had a black and white TV—that took the viewers on a tour of a radio station. I was fascinated with what I saw: the audio control console, the microphones, the turntables, the reel-to-reel tape recorders, the record library, the day book of commercials for the announcer to read, the teletype machine from the Associate Press news wire, and more. All of these fascinated me. I thought about and dreamed about radio broadcasting almost constantly.
Eventually, I began to read books about radio and radio stations. And, by God’s grace, I had an opportunity to visit a radio station and become an intern there—a subject about which I have written extensively on this blog.
The fact remains that what I thought about became the way I chose to live my life. If you take a moment and look back over the years you’ve been alive, I think you will discover that this is true of you, too. What we think about, we become.
The Apostle Paul felt this was so important that he penned these words, recorded in Philippians 4:8:
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.
Why does the Apostle want us to think about true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy things? Because what we think about, we become.
Here’s one concrete example. In my lifetime, our society in the United States has become highly sexualized. While sexuality is an important part of human life, it has moved from the bedroom to the boardroom. Every conceivable product is sold using sexual imagery or innuendo.
Furthermore, once relegated to an under-the-counter, nearly forbidden pastime, pornography has become one of the fastest growing industries in our economy. This comes as a result of our society being bombarded by subtle, and not so subtle, sexual messages nearly continually. You see, what we think about, we become.
As we start a new day, we need to remember that with what we choose to fill our minds will control our pathway in life. If we purposely fill our minds with only things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, we will become someone who is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
Can you even imagine what a positive change that would be?
