"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." Philippians 4:8
It's likely you've heard the expression before, "You are what you eat." It's a reminder to us that the food that ingest is of great importance in how our body is. We may not truly become celery, broccoli, or a cheeseburger, but we understand that the things we eat affect our body in very great and direct ways.
St. Paul seemed to have the same thought in mind when he penned these words by the Spirit so many years ago. Only, instead of food determining matters for our bodies, he went the direction of saying that our thoughts affect who we actually are. And in a lot of ways, this truth is one that continually reveals itself. You are what you think. But even as I say that, I recognize that it bears a little bit more explaining than just the simple phrase. In fact, I think this whole week, we'll be focusing on this thought in the blog entries.
Paul tells the Philippians that they should think about the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent things of the world. And if you think about it, when you think about such things in life, you likely start to notice them a lot more. You see them in the world around you. You see them in other people around you. You may even start to see that you take actions and think thoughts and speak words that bring those same things to bear in your life. As you focus on them, you start to see them present in your life in ways that you had never expected before.
There is a thought out there that you can change much about yourself by how you look at yourself, and likewise, that you can change how you see the world and others around you simply by looking for different things in them. While I believe that we can take that too far (for example, even if you look for good in something evil, you won't find it because its nature is contrary to what you are looking for), it does show us that we will see and find what we look for in the world, in others, and even in ourselves.
We'll keep examining this thought throughout the week. But as you prepare for that, give a little thought to how you tend to look at the world around you, at others, and even at yourself. Maybe you'll even be a little surprised in what you see, or maybe you'll try to start looking at things a little differently.
It's likely you've heard the expression before, "You are what you eat." It's a reminder to us that the food that ingest is of great importance in how our body is. We may not truly become celery, broccoli, or a cheeseburger, but we understand that the things we eat affect our body in very great and direct ways.
St. Paul seemed to have the same thought in mind when he penned these words by the Spirit so many years ago. Only, instead of food determining matters for our bodies, he went the direction of saying that our thoughts affect who we actually are. And in a lot of ways, this truth is one that continually reveals itself. You are what you think. But even as I say that, I recognize that it bears a little bit more explaining than just the simple phrase. In fact, I think this whole week, we'll be focusing on this thought in the blog entries.
Paul tells the Philippians that they should think about the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent things of the world. And if you think about it, when you think about such things in life, you likely start to notice them a lot more. You see them in the world around you. You see them in other people around you. You may even start to see that you take actions and think thoughts and speak words that bring those same things to bear in your life. As you focus on them, you start to see them present in your life in ways that you had never expected before.
There is a thought out there that you can change much about yourself by how you look at yourself, and likewise, that you can change how you see the world and others around you simply by looking for different things in them. While I believe that we can take that too far (for example, even if you look for good in something evil, you won't find it because its nature is contrary to what you are looking for), it does show us that we will see and find what we look for in the world, in others, and even in ourselves.
We'll keep examining this thought throughout the week. But as you prepare for that, give a little thought to how you tend to look at the world around you, at others, and even at yourself. Maybe you'll even be a little surprised in what you see, or maybe you'll try to start looking at things a little differently.
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