WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN THINKING ABOUT?
SCRIPTURE: PHILLIPIANS 4:8 (TPT)
”So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.”
Each one of us is really a sum total of what he or she thinks about, meditates on and secretly desires. If I can find out what you admire and think about, I will probably know the kind of person you are. Why is this so? Because people are what they think about. Also, the scriptures say in Proverbs 23, verse 7b that, ”for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…” (KJV)
There are times when we are all compelled to think about things we usually don’t like to think about. Those of us who are workers have to think about paying our income taxes. However, income taxes are not the things we often love to think about. We think about it because the laws of our nation require us to do so. Therefore, whether you feel happy thinking about it or not, you have to overcome your feelings and emotions and plan to pay your taxes.
It is not the best to take this pressure driven attitude into the business of the Christian life. That means you cannot think and meditate on issues only when “pressure” or some law pushes you to do so. God wants you and I to do better than that. This is where the habit and practice of meditation or godly thinking comes in.
Today’s verse talks about engaging your mind wisely, through godly thinking and meditation. This verse also helps to separate what is profitable from what is ungodly in your thoughts. We must continue to cultivate the habit of meditation and reflection on the things God has told us. Just as paying taxes is our obligation and we have to think about it and pay it whether we like it or not, meditation on the Word must be our priority too.
Your reflections and meditation, if done habitually, shall become so enjoyable because of its benefits. Meditation on God’s Word helps you to discipline your thoughts so you can concentrate more on God and His Word. It was said of Isaac in Genesis 24, verse 63 that, ”And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.”
This was a deliberate choice of Isaac and a good example that reinforces the importance of this truth. Make time to meditate. Set time aside and with the help of the Spirit of God, reflect on the works of God in your life and the Word of God over your life. It is these thoughts, ideas, and insights God gives you privately during these times of reflection and meditation that help to shape you and influence what you become eventually.
Determine and decide today that you would consciously meditate and focus your thoughts on positive issues like righteousness, good health, prosperity, godliness, devotion to God, helping others, etc This is how you and I will become the great people we desire to become and experience the great things we think about. Take charge of your thoughts, focus them on what is godly and approved by God and let your meditation shape you into a more godly, productive, believer. This is your privilege in Christ Jesus.
PRAYER
I give you praise, dear Father, for the ability to engage my mind on godly and positive things. By your Word, I am clearly instructed to know how to keep my meditation on the things that will shape me for a better future in Christ Jesus. I am confident of your grace as I constantly stay disciplined in my reflections and thought life. I acknowledge your sufficient grace in this direction in Jesus’s name, Amen
FURTHER READING (NKJV)
ROMANS 12:1-4
[1]I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
[2]And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
[3]For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
[4]For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function…