What were you thinking? 

Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Oh boy . . . Sometimes the area where God wants to work is a sensitive one.  Our thoughts.  There are times when my thoughts are not exactly noble, or pure or even nice.  But how did those thoughts get in our minds to begin with?

Thoughts enter into our heads in many ways.  The movies or TV shows we watch.  The music we listen to.  The people we hang out with.  The books we read.  I think you get the picture.  Did we watch a movie with inappropriate sexual behavior?  Could be why we have racy dreams or thoughts.  Did we listen to the latest music video that was loaded with profanity?  Could be why we use foul language – we may not say it but we think it.  Even when we just use the initials of a foul phrase, it is still using foul language. I am not going to list them here – I think everyone knows what they are.  But what about OMG which is Oh My God?  Are we really involving God in our speech?  Somehow, I don’t think that is always the case. 

Are we thinking about a better house, a different spouse, winning the lottery?  Sounds like we are not satisfied with what we have been given.  Do we live in a fantasy world because the real world is not working out the way we want it to?  Is that because we think we want what someone else has?  We fantasize and think about what life would be like if we had  . . . what?  What do we do?  We change our focus.  Instead of thinking about what we don’t have or what we think we should have, we focus on God and what He has already given us.  We fill our minds with thanksgiving.

When we load our heads with garbage, then that’s what we are going to continue to think about.  It’s like hearing a song and then the rest of the day, we keep singing that song over and over in our head.  So how do we get the garbage out of our thoughts?

We replace the garbage with holy.  We watch movies and TV shows that are family friendly.  If we hear any kind of profanity or see indecent behavior, we turn the movie/TV show off.  We draw a line in the sand – no more inappropriate movies or TV shows.  That is hard to do today but it is not impossible.  If we can’t find something decent to watch, then we turn the TV off. 

We can change the radio station to Christian music.  Get a worship song stuck in your head!  We can get rid of the racy romance books and replace them with books written by Christian writers.  Better yet, dust off the Bible and memorize scriptures.  Fill our minds with verses! 

Here’s a hard one . . . what kind of friends do we have?  Do they tell dirty jokes, use sexual innuendoes, or encourage inappropriate behavior . . .  We can’t change the behavior of our friends, but we can be a good influence.  But if their behavior is rubbing off on us, then we need to make a change.  We have to come to a decision about what is important – is a relationship with Jesus important or is keeping our old friends who are causing a break in that relationship more important?  It’s all about choices.  I pray that we would all choose Jesus as the most important person in our lives.  Then our thoughts will be more in line with Philippians 4:8.  Our thought life is important - thoughts can become actions.  God's thoughts are good towards us, so let's turn our thoughts to God.  

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.