Think About Your Thinking

THINK ABOUT YOUR THINKING

Philippians 4:8 calls us to focus our thinking on that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Here is an excerpt from "Living in the Goodness of God's Peace Part 3: An Exposition of Philippians 4:8":

"As we think about our thinking, it is important to understand that our thought life must be understood as part of the overall inner person that God designed to function in an integrated manner. When we consider our inner person, in any particular moment we might put the emphasis on our thoughts or upon our feelings or upon our commitments. We might say that we think with our intellect and that we feel with our affections and that we commit with our will. But we dare not divide these things up as if you can operate on a single track. Our goal is not to be unfeeling, uncommitted, but thinking Christians, nor to be unthinking, unfeeling, but committed Christians, nor to be unthinking, uncommitted, but feeling Christians. To “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37), “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds” (Ephesians 4:23), to be a people who “love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10), to love Jesus and therefore to obey Him (John 14:15), to think Christianly and to live Christianly (Philippians 4:8-9), to let our love abound in accordance with wisdom (Philippians 1:9-10), to meditate on the Lord’s Word day and night because it is our delight to do so (Psalm 1:1-2), shows that our inner person consisting of thought, emotion, and volition ought to be one reality. If we understand this, then we will understand that the call of Philippians 4:8 to think Christianly isn’t a call to detached thought, but a call to cherished thought. We ought to think on these things because these are the things that we cherish, these are the things that we love, these are the things that we delight to think about, and these are the things that we long to see bear fruit in the way that we actually live."