God chose us in Him to be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4) and our entire lives should be a striving to stay pure and undefiled in all areas of our lives. When we think of pure, our minds tend to go towards sexual purity, but this extends beyond just sexual purity to all moral purity in our thoughts, words, and actions. Having the right thinking will lead us to the right actions. To conform our thinking to what is just, we need to keep our minds in line with the truth of God’s Word.
“Just” or “right” means it conforms to God’s law. To think noble or reverent thoughts means we live with eternity in view. It doesn’t mean we don’t recognize wrong things are going on in the world around us, but these thoughts are not meant to permeate our minds. The term for “honorable” means “noble” or “dignified.” We are to set our thoughts on things that are above, not on things of this earth (Colossians 3:3-4).
“Whenever we believe a lie, Satan takes over.” -Warren Wiersbe As believers, we are to seek what is true in all areas of our lives. We need to ask the Lord to permeate our minds with the truth of His Word and help us avoid falsehood. Jesus is the embodiment of truth, and His gospel is truth. We need to fix our minds on what is true. Let’s walk through Paul’s list of what sort of thoughts we should be filling our minds. Scripture is our source for knowing what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable.
Renewed minds 2 pure hearts how to#
God’s Word doesn’t leave us wondering how to take every thought captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) we have a detailed list of what we are to think about as Christians laid out for us in Philippians 4:8. It is going to change our thought life to no longer dwell on fleshly thoughts but on ones that are spiritual and Christ-focused. The last issue the apostle addresses here in verse 8 is our thought life.Īs God’s peace guards our hearts and minds we will find ourselves thinking on the Lord’s promises and His provision for us. Paul has addressed unity in the church (Phil 4:2-3), a joyful spirit (Phil 4:4), humility (Phil 4:5), anxiety and thankfulness (Phil 4:6), and peace (Phil 4:7). Prior to this verse in Philippians 4, the apostle has been going over with the Philippian’s things he desires them to do. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” The apostle Paul tells us how to replace sinful, wrong thinking by instead thinking thoughts that are God-honoring in Philippians 4:8. It doesn’t mean our thinking will be exactly like God’s, but it does mean we can think and act more and more like Christ as our minds are renewed (Romans 12:2). Having the mind of Christ is a guide to all we do, and it needs to impact our thinking. God’s Word tells us that we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We need to know what God’s Word says to be able to take every thought captive. That’s because what we don’t know can’t influence our thinking. But to hide His Word in my heart so I might not sin against Him means that I need to be reading God’s Word and dwelling on it throughout my day. At times, I can find myself too busy to be thinking God’s thoughts. Instead of being controlled by my thoughts, I would like to have control over them. Or you might find me asking the “what if” questions, which only destroy my peace and leave me unsettled in my thoughts. I may even find myself arguing with the other person in my mind. When someone has wronged me, I’ll mull it over and over again in my mind.
Too often, my thoughts control me instead of me controlling my thoughts. EP 18: Putting on an Attitude of Love in Our Homes