Good Thoughts

         I have a small routine I go through each morning when I get up and get my coffee and head for the computer to write the devotion. I check my email and then go to Facebook in my search for either updates of new prayer requests. Sometimes people post their activities for the past day on social media and I find out who is standing in the need of prayer. In so doing, I also go through and remove all of the offensive posting. This includes everyone who puts something on Facebook with a “cuss” word in it. They automatically get removed as soon as they are spotted. If it continues, some people get “removed from my list.” I also get rid of anything that speaks offensively about my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This cleans up some of the posting on my Facebook page. I also enjoy using the mute button especially during any political election time such as we are now in for the next 10 months. Every candidate that promotes the killing of babies gets the automatic mute button. I am getting pretty fast on the draw with this. There are a lot of things I can't control, but one thing I can control is the TV sound and what appears on my computer screen. It is important to keep the mind input more along good lines than that which is evil. Philippians 4:7-8 says, “ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 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, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

        The Apostle Paul spoke about having a renewed mind in several places in the New Testament and one of the most famous is perhaps Romans 12:1-2. Mind renewal can be accomplished by safeguarding the input into your mind and especially that which you think about. It seems as if your mind is active every second that you are awake and perhaps even when you are sleeping. The mind can become a nesting place of pictures that you would like to forget but once you see them they seem to be burned into your memory. Some of the pictures in my mind go back to me very early childhood such as the lightning that split a phone pole in front of my eyes. There are always those times when someone tries to deliberately tear you down or to insult you or to speak evil about you. This is why we need to guard the input of our mind and we can promote this by our control of our thought life. This is where the lesson comes from Philippians 4:8. This is one of those verses that should be copied and put on the dashboard of your car or on your refrigerator or on the door frame of both your front and back doors. This verse should be in a place where it will be a constant reminder of that on which you should be thinking. What do you think about? Truth, honesty, just, purity, lovely, good report, virtue and praise should all be the characteristics of our thoughts. Praise God for keeping us on track moment by moment.