Food for Friday
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8
During the World Cup competition in South Africa, much was made of the decision by the North Korean government to allow live broadcast of the match between North Korea and Portugal. Such a decision is unlikely to be repeated because Portugal humiliated North Korea 7-0. North Koreans are not permitted to watch any television or listen to any radio that is not sanctioned by the government. The government’s brutal stranglehold on its starving people includes an insistence that everyone think the way the government wants them to think. And most of what the people are told are propaganda lies and brainwashing. How gloriously different the list of thinking patterns that our text presents for the Christian!
Unlike North Korea’s lies, we are exhorted to think only on the truth. Unlike the devious manipulative propaganda of Pyongyang, honesty and forthrightness is to be the mindset of the Saint of God. Christians are expected to respect and honour that which is just and right, as opposed to the imprisonment and torture of innocents as practiced by communist North Korea. That cruel state’s harsh and ugly environment contrasts sharply with the loveliness to which the Christian is directed. There is nothing good to report of North Korea, but there is plenty good to report among God’s people and about God’s working to save souls and bless His children. How blessed are the thoughts that the Child of God can enjoy, as we are directed by today’s text to do.
We are not what we think we are. We are what we think. Our thoughts determine the type of person we are, the behaviour we show, the actions we perform, the lifestyle we lead, the faithfulness we display, the attitudes we hold. A kind and friendly man must be so in his thoughts as well as his deeds, and a nasty, cross-grained woman must also have a thought process that matches her personality. That’s why Scripture urges us to fill our thoughts with the good, that our lives will match.
So, what do you think? Think on the Lord Jesus, and you will think the right things. -Jim MacIntosh