WHAT THOUGHTS FILL YOUR MIND TODAY?
As the apostle Paul closed his letter to the Philippians, he urged them to always rejoice in the Lord. He gave them a couple of spiritual practices to help them to always experience the joy of the Lord. One practice was that they should turn their worries into prayers, not being anxious about anything, but praying about everything. The other, was to be careful about their thought-life, what their minds meditated on. He gave them a list of topics for their mental meditations, things like: “Whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.”
Paul’s instructions about joyful living clearly involve being careful about our state of mind. Consider the effect of having the opposite kinds of thoughts than Paul encourages. When we are anxious, meditating on things that are false, ignoble, unjust, impure, ugly, of bad report, without virtue, and not praiseworthy, we risk losing the joy of the Lord.
Looking through the list of joy-killing thoughts, which ones plague you the most? And what triggers such thoughts? Is it the news, social media, some television show or movie? What are you putting in your mind? Remember the acronym of computer programmers: GIGO–– Garbage In, Garbage Out. Are you putting garbage in your mind or praiseworthy things? What kinds of thoughts fill your mind today?
PRAYER: Dear Father, we begin our days talking to You. For meditating on Your Word and hearing Your voice is the source of our joy. We are often self-defeated and anxious because we have filled our minds with bad things. Forgive us. Help us to think with the mind of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.