In our previous post we learned that prayer is the best alternative to worry. We learned that prayer leads to increased peace in our life.
In Phil. 4:7 we are told that peace will act as a guard or as a garrison around our hearts and minds.
Paul gives us a prescription and a program to handle worry. In verses 7 – 8 he then gives us a list of things to meditate on.
The list consists of things to help align us on how to think, more than what to think. In other words we are being taught to train our mind to flow in a particular way. For example, we all know someone who has a dirty mind. No matter what is said, that person will almost always apply a sexual connotation to it. This is because of how they think.
Proverbs 23:7 says “as a man thinks, in heart, so he is.” What we spend our time thinking on shapes our character. Proper thinking will reinforce the guarding and alignment of our mind and heart.
Thinking Define:
Think means to give weight to these things; take them into account (before you start worrying). And count them as being factual and true and not fantasy. Which is what worry is. Most of the things we worry about never happen. We tend to assign more weight and credit to our imagined worries. Furthermore, we start treating our worries like they are real.
Six Biblical Guidelines to Proper Thinking
Things that are true: means loving the truth and speaking the truth. the root of the word true is alpha which means the beginning. It also means to be hidden from one; secretly. The idea is that the truth that comes from God is not made available to everyone. I personally believe there is a hierarchy, a prioritizing and a structure to what we should be thinking about. It should start with the things of God and His word. We need to train and condition our mind to always start with the things that are true. The default position for our thought life should be truth.
Honest or noble: at its root the word means to revere or to worship. The value of my thought life should be worthy of my time, energy and emotions. Many of the things we worry about are dung and not worthy of the brain cells. For example, a stranger makes a negative comment about our shoes, when 50 people have said that the like our shoes. But we focus on the one negative comment.
Things that are just = things that are righteous. The standard of what is righteous is God’s word.
Things that are pure = some things should be sacred. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 declare we should glorify God in our bodies, which was purchase with a price and is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. We should honor our bodies according the price tag.
Things that are lovely = the idea is of things that are not only pleasing but acceptable and orderly. For example, a flower would be lovely. A young man walking around sagging is not pleasing and should not be acceptable and it’s most definitely not orderly.
- Things of good report = things that are worth repeating. I often heard people confess to listening to rap music because of the music, however the content is not of a good report, nor worth repeating.