What Do You Think About?
“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.“ Romans 13:14
A few years back, I was out for a run on a beautiful day. The weather was perfect, and many people had their windows open. I could easily hear the music coming from one house as I passed by. It was a song I knew and as I continued my run I couldn’t get the lyrics out of my head. But they weren’t lyrics I wanted in my head; I didn’t want to keep singing them over and over again. To stop thinking about them I started singing the old hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and before long the words of that song replaced the other lyrics and became the words guiding my thoughts.
We live in a day of distractions with many things competing for our thoughts and attention. As the apostle Paul points out in the verse above, we need to be deliberate and intentional about the things we allow to dominate our thoughts and attention. The text note in the NIV study Bible tells us that “In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.”
The Bible tells us that if we allow our thoughts to focus on the desires of the flesh it will produce all kinds of bad fruit in our lives, including: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21)
But, if our thoughts are focused on righteousness they will produce in us the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23).
“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.” (Philippians 4:8)
What do you think about? Where are your thoughts focused?
Having begun as a guest speaker in 2005, Dan was appointed Interim Pastor in 2008 and has been serving Maple Root Baptist ever since. As a small group leader and Chaplin for the Connecticut Tigers, Dan has a heart for the lost and the God that saves them.