“Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8, NLT
I was recently talking to a person who looked like they had a really rough week. They looked totally exhausted and burdened. I asked this person what was going on and there was a lot. Toward the end of the conversation, the person shared they were just going to go home and “veg” – meaning go home, turn on the TV, and just watch some mindless movie. The person really wasn’t interested in the movie, nor looking for some well written plot. Rather the person was just looking for something to distract them from what was going on in their life.
Sound familiar?
Soon it became clear they should do something more than just “veg”. Nothing was going to solved by just disengaging from life. So, we talked about dwelling less on the dark negative things and focusing more on the good things going on in their life. Their child graduated with honors from school and got into a really good university – overcoming some pretty intense competition. The job was pretty challenging but deep down, truth be told, it was better to be challenged than being bored. God was teaching this person a lot of new things about their craft and also about the quality of their character and life. In other words, there were a lot of good things to think about, a lot to be thankful for, and a lot more to do ahead.
This person just needed a little nudge to start thinking about things that were pure, lovely, and honorable and start applying what God was teaching them to do – and do them.
Dwelling on things that are worthy of praise is something that all of us should do more. It beats thinking about nothing and just “vegetating”.
Arnold Wong
September 3, 2022