“A Penny for Your Thoughts” Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” When we see people deep in thought, we sometimes say to them, “a penny for your thoughts.” This means that we would like to know what they are thinking. What if you took somebody up on that and took a penny for your thoughts? Would your thoughts be worth a penny? Our lives are built around what we think about, and what we think about as a general rule will decide our actions. Paul had some good advice for Thessalonian Christians. He gave a list of important things that should occupy our minds. First, he wrote that if something is true we should think about it, wrap our minds around it. Conversely if something is false, we need to erase it from our minds. Lies get spread around, even in the Christian community, when we are not careful to weigh the truth of what we are talking and thinking about. Second, we need to think about the things that are honest. Honesty and truth are almost twins. We all like to think that our thoughts are mainly honest. Are we being honest when we think about, for example how to cut corners on our taxes? Third, he wrote that we are to think about justice. To think about justice is to think about being fair with people. This goes into how we treat people. Is it just to “give a piece of our mind” to, for example, a cashier in the grocery store? Do we go out of our way to be obnoxious because we know that we can get by with it? However, our Christian witness doesn’t “get by with it.” Fourth, we are to think about things that are pure. If we are honest with ourselves, we will have to confess that a lot of impure thoughts can go through our minds in a day’s time. There are many opportunities to think impure thoughts today. We get hit from every side with pictures that would lead our minds to impure thoughts if we were not careful. Fifth, he wrote that we should think about things that are lovely, and of a good report. There are a lot ugly things out there today that seek to bring our minds into obedience to them. If something is lovely, think about it. I have put “lovely” and “good report” together. Isn’t this what gossip is: taking that which is ugly and reporting on it? Has anyone ever called you to say, “I saw john Doe do a good thing today"? Someone might make a call like this, but for the most part we miss the good report. People do not generally run to their phones and call people about the lovely things that they see. An evil report seems to dominate our media. Just take a quick look at the headlines on magazine covers. Most of the time they are ugly and will get someone in trouble. If something is virtuous or praiseworthy, we need to highlight that and report it to the people. I know that all things can’t meet the test of the virtues of this passage. There will be negative things. When this is true, we need to contact the people involved and speak with them, not everybody but them. Another good idea is to keep those thoughts to ourselves – in other words, keep our mouths shut, our pens still, and our telephones on the hook. A penny for your thoughts! :-) Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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