‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’

Reflections based on Philippians 4:4–9.

This passage is such a helpful key to living our lives well. In it we are told how important it is to have an attitude of rejoicing (and this from a man in prison!). He also says we should not worry but bring everything to God and that it is this process that will allow our minds and hearts to be full of his peace.

It is vital that we develop a positive thought life. We’ve already seen in this blog series how David did this. Immerse yourself in the Word and pray regularly. But it is of course a process, not an instant result. Just think what a minefield our minds can be, and often it is what we mull over that causes us to become discouraged. Romans 12:2 combats this, telling us that we should ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind’. How do we do that? Well in 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are told to ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’. It is a very active thing; we need to fight for our mind and boot out the thoughts that aren’t helpful. The start of that verse says: ‘We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God’ – these are all things that can come against you in your mind.

I think the last few verses in our Philippians passage can be truly life-changing. I’d encourage you to write them out and post them where you will see the passage regularly. They are a great plumb line to use to stop and think every so often throughout your day about what you’ve allowed your thoughts to linger on. You’ll probably be shocked by some of things your mind entertains without you really noticing. I was when I tried it.

Prayer: Lord I am sorry that so often I can just allow any thought to linger in my mind. Help me to be proactive about throwing out the unhelpful thoughts, and replacing them with ones that do me good.