Whatever am I thinking?…

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

I don’t believe that we can control what thoughts come into our minds. Some are meant for us specifically and come naturally. I think there are some thoughts swirling in the mist and we just walk into a swarm of them and our minds are assaulted.  Some will come as a result of our environment and most will come because of the lifestyle we live.

Some will fly in and fly right back out without landing or leaving a memory of itself. But if a thought comes in and stays, we then have a choice to make of it’s future residence and authority in our life. If it is allowed to rest, it grows and ripens. If not harvested and properly stored or disposed of, it will indeed begin to rot and taint everything in its presence.

It is wise and solid advice to take EVERY thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) because there are consequences if we do not.

For instance… I have a friend, whom I love dearly, say to me with complete innocence, “Do you really like that color you are wearing?” I said yes and moved on to other conversation. Later, when I was home and happened to look in the mirror, the question came back with a vengeance! All of a sudden it was not just an innocent question but a whole critique of every article of clothing I have ever worn. Rather than disposing of these rotten thoughts, I let them have free reign in my mind and even gave them authority in how I would/will respond to my friend, my shopping choices, my self-image and any other item which might be covered by color and/or the insecurities that I have hoarded.

So what? Well… it became bitter fruit and it’s bitterness indwelt me and changed my attitude, affected my ability to believe the truth, and caused me to adjust my love for my friend and for myself. I loved both of us a little less than I did before. You say, “That’s silly!” And it is, but I guarantee this and even sillier thoughts and reactions to thoughts have happened to every one of us over and over again!

Every thought that we allow to have residence, affects our soul, the center of our life that houses our natures. The place within each of us where all we are is built and maintained. We don’t always get to choose what happens to us, but we always choose how we will allow it to effect our nature. Whether knowingly or naively… we are always choosing who we are becoming and who or what has dominion over our becoming. It is called free will. It is what sets humans apart from animals. Even when our responses and reactions feel like nothing more than instinct… if you are human… they are choices.

In our world we crave FREEDOM! We demand that we be allowed to do or say or think anything we can imagine. If we are not allowed our demands, we scream that someone has taken away our freedom and they MUST PAY! The facts be damned… it is not truth that is necessary, only my perception… MY TRUTH!

Our brains are sometimes the victim of this same craving for freedom. Every thought demands it’s purpose, even if that requires a rewriting of history or an amendment to the core values our soul has written over our life (which again every soul has the freedom to choose and has chosen his/her core values). Every thought has the purpose of being put into practice.

But, without discipline, thoughts are as unstable and unmanageable as emotions. In fact they feed the emotions in order to gain the evidence of their importance. Not every thought we receive is true. And not every true thought is beneficial to our soul. But EVERY thought will have an effect. If given the freedom thoughts demand, our lives would result in chaos.

Thoughts… good, bad, worthwhile, worthless, interesting  or boring, must be taken captive. We must take every thought captive and we must judge them before allowing them access to our soul. You would not allow a thief into your house and give them free access to all your belongings, nor would you allow a murderer to kill or harm someone you love. And yet, we allow our thoughts to do the same to us.

We must seek and study and analyze and know what our soul needs to be the best we can be, so that we may recognize our thoughts for what they are and what they will contribute to or take away from our life goal.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

For me, my soul… my life choices… are to love God with all my heart, all my mind, and with all my soul and to love my neighbor as myself. Your choices may be different… but neither of us will reach the fullness of our souls unless we are pressing forward. Neither of us will gain the prize unless we take ownership and command of ourselves.

Our free will, our ability to think and choose, is not easy to own. Knowing how awesome and fearful the responsibility of this ownership is, I for one want to use only the best tools and resources in order to choose wisely… not perfectly… but always better able to be and become ME, the only one of my kind in all of creation. So…. whatever…

Whatever is true… whatever is honorable… whatever is right… whatever is pure… whatever is lovely… whatever is of good repute… if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise… (please note that this says whatever IS, not your version of it, but what IS) whatever is… is an excellent place for our brains to dwell.

THINK ABOUT IT!!

 

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB      version of the Bible