“And now, dear
brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and
worthy of praise.” – Philippians 4:8
You can’t live in our world
today without at least being tempted to cynicism, discouragement, and
negativity. Our televisions are full of
violence, filthy language, and immorality.
The media seem only to report on tragedies and scandals because they
think that’ll get our attention. Our
political leaders seem more interested in telling us how bad life is and
blaming their opponents for it, rather than inspiring us to take responsibility
and make life better for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
When St. Paul penned that verse
from Philippians, he was living in a very similar cultural environment. The “good old days” of the virtuous Roman
Republic were coming to an end.
Violence, sexual immorality, and petty greed were destroying
communities, and corrupt politicians were creating more problems than
solutions.
Yet St. Paul tells his readers
not to dwell on the negative. Instead
they should think about what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and
admirable. In Romans he tells his
readers that they should “be transformed by the renewing of their minds”
(Romans 12:2) and that they should “take every thought captive and make it
obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
God is not just concerned about our behavior. He is concerned that we are thinking about
the right things, that we not allow negativity, violence, impurity, and evil to
take control of our minds.
I think all of us struggle with
this in some way. In my case (and maybe
yours too), I sometimes allow too much negative “self-talk” and negative
emotions to build up. For others, it’s a
case of being too negative, critical, and judgmental of other people. Or we might have a specific struggle in our
thought-life: lust/pornography, passive-aggression, or self-destructive
thoughts.
As Christians, we need to
acknowledge that these kinds of thoughts are simply not what God wants for
us. He wants us to take responsibility
for the thoughts and feelings that we allow in our minds, and He wants us to
focus on the kinds of things that will build us up and challenge us to obey
Christ’s law of love and His gospel of forgiveness.
As we enter the month of March,
we are in the midst of Lent. Many of us “give
up something” for Lent, and in my case, I am giving up negative thoughts. It’s a discipline I need, and quite frankly,
it’s a discipline that our world needs as well.
To put it another way: in March
we begin the season of Spring cleaning.
I’ve never been much of a “cleaner.”
(For evidence, see my office…)
But this year, I plan on “spring cleaning my mind!” Will you join me?
