Think About Such Things

"Finally brothers, 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

Today I was listening to a song by Death Cab for Cutie, called "I will possess your heart". Basically the song has like, one verse and a repetitive chorus that goes;

You've gotta spend some time, love

You've gotta spend some time with me

And I know that you'll find, love

I will possess your heart

I have no doubt at all that Ben Gibbard wrote the song for a girl and all that blah blah.. But hear me out.

It got me to thinking.

The things/people/activities that we spend our time with, whether good or bad, are essentially the things we lend our hearts to. Thus, these things possess our hearts. Right?

So this got me to thinking that we should be careful and Godly about the way we spend our time and energy and what we put time and energy into thinking about. Yes.

So this is where Philippians 4:8 comes in. In a roundabout kinda way.

I love this quote from Misty Edwards "Most of your life takes place on the other side of your face." (meaning, in your mind) I could not agree more. We are thinkers, us humans. Always thinking, our minds wander here and there constantly. I'm always having to pull my mind back into focus, away from daydreams or wandering thoughts.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul clearly lists the things we should be setting our minds to, the things we should be thinking about and the things that should be taking up our time, both in our heads, and out.

The list is pretty elite.

whatever is:

True

Noble

Right

Pure

Lovely

Admirable

Excellent

Praiseworthy

And, here's the list of people/things that possess all the qualities afore-mentioned:

God

This is challenging. There's SO much out there to spend time thinking about, why would we want to think about God? I am the most prone to daydreaming person alive.. I think all the time about everything. It's overwhelming. I'm sure you'd all agree. But why, why do I spend my time thinking about all this clutter and chaos when all God requires of me is to think about Him? To set my heart on things above.

Imagine what kind of a world we'd live in if we became a generation who walked round daydreaming about Heaven? Constantly spending time contemplating and meditating on God. In order that the thing we spend our time on would, indeed, hold our affections, and therefore;

Possess our hearts.