THE IMPORTANCE OF GODLY THOUGHTS

Philippians 4:8-9 says, "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. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." The final encouragement that Paul gave to the church in Philippi was to fix their thoughts on the things that glorify God and practice what they had learned from him so that the God of peace would be with them. The reason that the believers in Philippi need to fix their thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise is that it guards their minds from sinful thoughts that affect their hearts. It is also important for them to continue to live out or practice what they learned about how to live their faith in the Lord. 

Every day, our minds are engaged with all kinds of situations. Everything that we see and hear affects our thoughts, and if our thoughts are filled with ungodliness or worldliness, then our hearts are affected and will lead us to have sinful thoughts and attitudes. However, if we focus our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise, then we will have godly thoughts and attitudes that will lead us to godly living. We have to be careful what we allow into our minds. If we find ourselves thinking ungodly thoughts, we need to switch the way we think. And if we are struggling with switching our thoughts, then we need to ask God to help us. We need to stop watching or listening to things that are toxic in our minds. We need to fill our minds with what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise every day. We also need to practice what we learned about how to live our faith on a daily basis. 

We need to remember that our thoughts affect our attitude. We cannot pursue our spiritual maturity if we do not fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. And let us practice what God has been teaching us about how to live our faith daily.

Questions for application: (Think through these questions carefully, meditate on them while answering them, and let the Spirit of God speak to you.) Do the things that I watch and listen to promote what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise? Why is it important for me to fix my thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise? Why is it important to practice what God has been teaching me about how to live my faith daily?

Take a moment to write down all your worries today. Then, lift them to God in prayer, surrendering them to His will and trusting in His guidance.

Prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven, please cleanse my thoughts and help me to fix my mind on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Please help me stop watching or listening to things that promote worldliness, but only allow things in my mind that promote godliness, and please help me to practice what you have been teaching me about how I live my faith on a daily basis. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.