Never Humble Enough by Tim Challies
posted by Tim Challies at Informing the Reforming
I pray sometimes that God will make me humble. But inevitably I soon find myself feeling proud for asking God such a noble thing. It’s pathetic really. Embarrassing. I believe in humility. I believe that humility is the king of all virtues. But the sheer goodness of humility makes it especially tricky to pursue and my deep depravity makes it impossible to master.
Humility does not come naturally to me. It does not come naturally to any of us. But I have gone looking for it. I have gone looking for it in God’s Word and I have gone looking for it in God’s people. I am convinced it can be learned, and that’s because humility is not a feeling or an attitude—it’s action. You learn humility by seeing humility and then doing humility. Here are four observations I have made about learning this virtue.
To learn to be humble, find godly people who display humility and spend time with them. Observe them. Learn from them. Learn to behave like them. Learn how God made them humble. God calls us to Christian community in part so we have living, breathing examples of virtue in action. Seek out the humble people in your church and in your life, and make them your teachers.
To learn to be humble, volunteer for the lowliest of tasks. Do not ask to be up-front and in the public eye; ask to be in the back where you serve out-of-mind and out-of-sight. Every pastor has people show up at his church to tell how they can transform that church if only they can have access to the pulpit and the people. But in almost every case, they could better serve and transform the church by joyfully doing the lowest jobs where they will be seen by only Jesus. Almost every one of us will make more of a mark on the world by changing diapers and taking out trash than by preaching great sermons or writing great songs. The people who serve at the front of the room ought to be those who have first proven themselves at the back.
To learn to be humble, serve until it hurts. Maybe that’s not the right phrase, because serving doesn’t hurt. Not really. But prepare yourself to serve freely, willingly, and uncomplainingly. Serve in those times when life is busy and serve in those times when life is simple. Serve in those times you feel like it and in those times you don’t. Serve in those positions in which you receive gratitude and serve in those positions in which no one thinks to say a word. Serve and then serve some more. Learn humility as a lifestyle.
To learn to be humble, get to know Jesus. Most of all, this. It was Jesus who said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). And it was Jesus who displayed that humility perfectly and completely. According to Jesus, you have the choice before you: Humble yourself, or be humbled. Lower yourself, or get lowered. If you elevate yourself, eventually you will get busted down. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Know Jesus, and be like Jesus, the one man who perfectly exemplified the best of all virtues.
I am convinced that humility can be learned, and with God’s help I am determined to grow in it. I know that, until the day I go to be with Jesus, I will never be humble enough.
Doubt Your Own Anger: How to Kill a Quiet Killer
Article by Ed Welch
Counselor, The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation
Anger is not receiving its due attention. Often, sexual sin captures our attention; anger less so. But when the apostle Paul lists sins, he especially identifies out-of-control desires that express themselves in sensuality and anger, with idolatry as a common thread between the two.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies. (Galatians 5:19–21)
With the seriousness of anger in mind, here are a few basic standards that can improve our anger literacy.
WE ALL BECOME SINFULLY ANGRY
No exceptions. Today, in your church, anger is a destroyer — separating friends, breaking marital bonds, crushing children. It can take different forms. Look for anger in murderous rages, but also look for it in grumbling and complaining (Numbers 14:2, 11), or in a cold shoulder or silence. Sometimes it turns away rather than rages against, but it is in us all.
We want peace, health, respect, love, control, influence, safety, and much more. Sinful anger appears when these desires and expectations quietly become more important to us than loving God and loving neighbor (James 4:1–2).
ANGER BLINDS US
We underestimate our own anger’s frequency and its impact on others. Other people underestimate the impact of their anger on us. Our anger feels like, “I am right.” It actually says, “I hate you” and “I am above you.” The more extreme our anger, the more confident we are that we are right. As a result, angry people are the last to know that they are sinfully angry.
Anger can also say, “I am hurt and don’t want to be hurt again” or “I am afraid and feel powerless,” but even then it remains a way that we manage our world in our own way and on our own terms.
ANGRY JESUS?
Jesus was never angry when he was tested, mocked, or rejected. He did, indeed, become angry. The money-changer incident is among the best-known New Testament stories (John 2:13–17). But his anger was not mixed with selfish and prideful motivations like ours. His intense passion was for his Father’s glory.
In other words, anger is not always sinful, but given the few times we actually stumble upon righteous anger, we would do well not to give our own anger the benefit of the doubt.
THE BEST TEXT ON ANGER
James 4:1–10 is a passage that crams in most everything we need to know about our anger:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
There are passages and stories about anger throughout Scripture, and none is complete in itself, but James gives us quite a bit. Our desires, our fights, our relationship with God, and the influence of Satan — they are all brought together in James’s words to us about anger.
He doesn’t go into detail about the Lord’s patience and how he is quick to forgive — these gems are embedded in his comment about God’s jealousy on our behalf and how the Lord gives more and more grace. What the passage does is open our blind eyes to see how anger is against other people and against the Lord. We would all benefit from mastering and being mastered by these verses.
WHERE DO WE TURN?
When we turn from one thing, we want to know what we are turning to. We turn away from our self-fueled anger. We turn to Christ and live under him. We turn from how we authorize our anger because we are “right” (and we might actually have evidence that would stand in court). We turn to humility and love. And this turn will have more longevity when done with mourning and weeping (James 4:9).
We are busy people, and it is not easy to find a place for those matters that are on the heart of God, but our sinful anger is temporary sympathy with the devil’s murderous ways. It opposes the unity that is at the heart of Christ’s kingdom.
We must not overlook this sin or excuse it away.
The Idols of a Mother’s Heart
Article by Christina Fox
Published on DesiringGod.org
When you are upset because you can’t do something you’ve wanted to do, it might be because that thing has become an idol in your heart.
I said these words one afternoon in response to one of my kids who was frustrated because I had taken away his highly valued time on the computer. We then talked about how idols are not always easy to recognize and that our emotional responses can sometimes be an indicator of what’s going on in our heart.
IDOLS SPECIFIC TO MOTHERHOOD
John Piper says that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” We were made to love and worship God. When he isn’t the longing of our heart and the source of our satisfaction, we seek to fill our bellies somewhere else. Instead of filling the God-shaped hole in our heart with enjoyment of him, we fill it with love for things, experiences, desires, and responses from others.
We often think of an idol as a manmade object that a person bows down and worships. An idol is really anything that we love more than God. It consumes our thinking and energies. It’s something that is so central to our life that if we didn’t have it, we would be devastated.
There are unique idols to motherhood. If you are a mother, you may recognize many or all of these:
Affirmation: This idol can include being affirmed by friends and family, and even by strangers, that our children are “so well behaved” or “so talented.” Pride then bubbles up in our heart. And when we don’t get those kinds of responses, or even receive the opposite, we are discouraged and frustrated. We also can seek affirmation through our children; their love for us can become an idol.
Children: Our children in and of themselves can become idols. It can start with even the desire to have children. It can become an all-consuming longing, becoming more important in our life than God. Once we have children, they can become idols when we live for them and always try to make them happy. We can seek to find our fulfillment in and through them. When they don’t respond to us as we expect or fail us in some way, we are devastated.
Success: We want our children to be successful because it is a reflection on us. We may press them endlessly to excel. We may have in our mind an image of what our “perfect family” looks like, and until we have it, we feel like a failure. If our children have limitations in some way, this may shatter our dreams as well.
Control: Being in control of all the details of life is a big idol for many moms. We sanitize little hands, keep them away from other kids with runny noses, and try to plan ahead for any unexpected event. We spend our days trying to orchestrate every detail of our life and our children’s life. But because nothing is actually in our control, we become anxious, worried, and agitated when things don’t go as planned.
These are not the only idols a mother can have. In fact, the options for idol-making are endless. As John Calvin so memorably said, our hearts are idol-making factories. The question is not whether our hearts are manufacturing idols, but which ones.
TOPPLING OUR IDOLS
I’ve worked with my children on identifying idols by having them cut out words and images of things that a person could love more than God. They glued those images into a heart shape on a drawing of a person I had done. We’ve done this activity a few times because it is helpful for them to see how much we fill our hearts with things other than God. One time, my son drew a frown on his person’s face and said, “He is sad. All these things he loves haven’t made him happy.”
As moms, finding our own idols can take some effort. Like weeds, they may have twisted themselves around our heart, burrowing down deep into the recesses and crevices. They may have become such a part of our heart that they we have trouble recognizing them.
We have to pray that God would reveal the idols in our heart and help us to see and recognize them. Sometimes it helps to be aware of our emotional responses to the circumstances in our life. How do we react when our children let us down? How do we respond when we don’t receive the affirmation from others that we desire? When God brings an idol to our attention, we have to humbly acknowledge our sin, repent, and turn away from them.
Turning away from our idols doesn’t mean only turning away; we then have to turn toward something else. And that something else is the great Someone: Jesus. As Tim Keller writes in Counterfeit Gods,
Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit gods. If you uproot the idol and fail to “plant” the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back. (172)
We can’t simply try harder to avoid idols. We can’t just resolve to resist them. We have to focus our hearts on Jesus’s person and work. He must be the source of our satisfaction. We aim to desire him above all else. We want to dwell, meditate, and saturate our hearts with the truth of God’s love and grace for us through the shed blood of Christ on our behalf. The more we rest and trust in the gospel, the more our love for Christ grows until it overflows, drowning and washing away the idols in our heart.
Has motherhood revealed idols in your heart? How can love for Christ uproot those idols?
Your Emotions Are A Gauge, Not a Guide
Article by
Jon Bloom
Staff writer, desiringGod.org
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).
Your rest is coming. Sooner than you know you will receive your “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance” (1 Peter 1:4). And when it comes you will understand why your faith was more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7). This is where Peter wants your hope to fully rest.
But today is a time for war, not peace. It’s a time for faith, not sight. It’s a time of grievous trials that test the genuineness of your faith (1 Peter 1:6–7). So it’s a time to prepare for the action of battle, to keep sober.
Your battle today will not be against “flesh and blood” but the deceitful forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12) and the deceitfulness of indwelling sin (Hebrews 3:13). And these two forces are going to try to use your emotions against you. So it might be helpful, by way of preparation, to remember the purpose of emotions so you can fight more effectively and know when to counter them.
God designed your emotions to be gauges, not guides. They’re meant to report to you, not dictate you. The pattern of your emotions (not every caffeine-induced or sleep-deprived one!) will give you a reading on where your hope is because they are wired into what you believe and value — and how much. That’s why emotions like delight (Psalm 37:4), affection (Romans 12:10), fear (Luke 12:5), anger (Psalm 37:8), joy (Psalm 5:11), etc., are so important in the Bible. They reveal what your heart loves, trusts, and fears. At Desiring God we like to say pleasure is the measure of your treasure, because the emotion of pleasure is a gauge that tells you what you love.
But because our emotions are wired into our fallen natures as well as into our regenerated natures, sin and Satan have access to them and will use them to try and manipulate us to act faithlessly. That’s why our emotional responses to temptation can seem like imperatives (you must do…) rather than indicatives (here’s what you’re being told). Just remember, that’s deceit.
Emotions aren’t imperatives; they’re not your boss. They’re indicatives; they’re reports. That’s why Paul wrote, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Romans 6:12).
So get ready today. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He will make promises to and/or threats against you. He will likely try and tap into your weak areas of unbelief and you may find your emotions surging in the wrong direction.
When that happens don’t be overly impressed. And remember that your emotions are gauges not guides. Let them tell you where the attack is being made so you can fight it with the right promises. And go to a trusted friend for prayer, perspective, and counsel if you need to.
And remember that this “light momentary affliction is preparing for [you] an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17) and very soon, it’s going to be over. And God, your Great Reward, will be all the inheritance you will ever want forever.
Set your hope fully on that.
How to Care for the Parents of Prodigals (Dave Harvey)
LIFT THE HEAVY BURDEN OF SHAME: CARING FOR THE PARENTS OF PRODIGALS
by: Dave Harvey
Prodigal kids: the gaping wound for many Christian parents.
A child, whether adolescent or adult, is living out their worst nightmare by charting a course away from God. They may be a people-pleasing prodigal, whose good appearance masks a godless heart, or a protesting prodigal, who blithely flips the bird to expectations and feels victimized by every consequence. Yet there is one common denominator that unites most of their parents: as Christians, they bear a unique burden of shame.
Stop and ponder that last line. Let the irony tug at your curiosity. Christian parents of prodigals often bear a peculiar shame over their child’s unbelief. It sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? We believe Christ bore our shame (Hebrews 12:2). The gospel unshackles us from sinful disgrace (Romans 5:5) and “everyone who believes in Christ will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11). So why do Christian parents bear such a heavy burden of shame?
The problem isn’t God. It’s his people.
WHAT CAN THE CHURCH DO?
We know the church is uniquely qualified to help suffering parents. Just look at our assets — the gospel, community, prayer. But when a parent bleeds for their wayward son or daughter, the church can be quick to judge and slow to bind wounds. We can dish out shame rather than demolish it. As a result, parents gravitate elsewhere for help, intuitively sensing their church is not a place of grace.
To be fair, it’s not easy for Christians to know what to do. We’re confused about how to care, what to say, whom to involve, and when (or if) to explore parental culpability. We’re often well intentioned but poorly informed. We want to lift burdens and inspire hope, but we lack the skill. So how do we speak to shame? What can churches do to become a place where families can heal and prodigals can return? Here are four thoughts.
1. FACE OUR FEAR
Katy was raised in a Christian home, attended a Christian school, went to youth group, and made a gospel album as a teenager. When she sang, people wept. But Katy had other desires. She left home for Hollywood and recorded a racy hit in 2008: “I Kissed a Girl.”
You guessed it. I’m talking about superstar Katy Perry.
Mary Hudson, Katy’s mom, recently said, “I get a lot of negative vibes. People ask, ‘How could you have a daughter like that?’” That question deserves our attention for two reasons. First, it’s a question that is deeply felt and often posed to prodigal parents. Secondly, the question betrays a haunting fear embedded within the church: “Could I have a daughter like that?”
Rebellious kids trigger serious anxieties for Christians. We respond by playing the comparison game — examining prodigals and their parents to find differences between us and them, our kids and their kids. To assuage our own worry, we want to find something to explain, something to blame. Once comforted, we feel elevated and speak like one of Job’s friends. “You magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me.” (Job 19:5)
But comparison creates a callous culture where suspicion trumps compassion, speculation replaces intercession, and judgment supplants long-suffering. All Christians are called to suffer. For some, the pain comes through a prodigal. We must normalize this if the church is truly going to be a place of grace.
2. OFFER SAFE SPACE
Do you love a wayward soul? If so, I pray you enjoy a safe space: one with open ears, wide hearts, and unhurried conversation — where friends bear grief, withhold judgment, protect confidentiality, and meet shame with gospel hope.
Don’t misunderstand. Safe space doesn’t mean unaccountable, godless venting, or assuming every wayward sufferer is a victim. The story of a Pharisaical father with a runaway teen is timeless. But most parents of wanderers come to church assuming, at least on some level, they’re at fault. And that floating blame is a huge distraction to finding real hope.
When you hear the words wayward or rebellious tumble from parents’ lips, hear grief. Grieve with them (Romans 12:15). Don’t be a fixer! Entrust any discovery of culpability to God and time. It’s not the immediate priority. The more we comprehend grace, the more our care moves from identifying their sin to sympathizing with their suffering. As we shift our posture from discerning hearts to delivering love, safe space expands and hearts open wide.
3. LABEL THE LEGALISM
One of the less detected strains of legalism in the church today is the false hope of “deterministic parenting.” This unspoken but deeply felt dogma assumes the parents’ faithfulness determines the spiritual health of their kids: “If I obey the Bible, discipline consistently, and push the catechism, then my kids will look good on earth and be present in heaven.” No parent would say it, but it’s really “justification by parenting.” Such legalism smuggles in a confidence that God rewards faithful parents with obedient, converted kids and does so proportionally to what we deserve. We can wrongfully assume, “I’ve put in serious work, so I deserve a lot!”
We also flip it. If the gospel of determinism is true, a wayward child reveals parental failure. If a kid is spinning out of control, parents are just reaping what they’ve sowed.
I’m not suggesting our parenting doesn’t matter. Godly parenting influences children positively and bad parenting influences them negatively. But the key word is influence. Too many Christians unconsciously confuse influence with determinative power. This assumption takes God, the world’s brokenness, and the human will out of the equation. We’re not masters of our own destiny or our children’s.
God is the perfect Father, and he still has prodigal children (Romans 3:23; Luke 15:11–32). What makes us think that could never be a part of our story?
4. CELEBRATE THE SHAME-BEARER
When parents of prodigals appear at a church event, shame tags along. This invisible companion whispers within about how substandard they are as parents compared to the other gold-circle group that gathered. Happy families can prompt pangs of guilt convincing them that no one could relate to their circus at home. The companion baits them to focus inward on their flaws or outward upon their circumstances.
Shame grows through this diversion. It feeds on how we feel when we look in the wrong direction. One of my daughters used to run with her head down, never looking where she went. After a few bumps and bruises, she learned a valuable lesson: the best way to move forward is to look up.
To suffocate shame, we must help hurting parents look up to Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). The words “endured the cross” transport us back to the most dishonorable hours in human history. Jesus had friends but none stuck by him. One betrayed. Another denied him. His followers? One week they sang “Hosanna!” and the next cried “Crucify!” He was entirely innocent yet was scorned as the worst of sinners.
Jesus knew deep shame, but the surprising twist comes in his response. He despised it.
Christ despised shame because he saw beyond it. Shame is painful, but it was powerless to define Christ. Shame could not change Christ’s identity nor control his future. Shame had no voice of influence over Jesus, no ability to paste him with indignity or dishonor. Because Christ saw joy beyond it.
If you love a prodigal, you must learn shame-hating. Christ nailed our shame to the cross. In its place, he imputed to us his record of perfect righteousness. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see our parenting failures. He doesn’t scroll through an unfiltered feed of ugly accusations and regrets. God sees his Son instead of us. We must look to Christ as well. For the one who loves a wayward soul, a shift in gaze is the only link to present sanity and future hope.
WHO CAN THE CHURCH BE?
The church has an opportunity. Parents of prodigals come to us with tender wounds. What would happen if they received a warm invitation to a group led by a couple who has walked their path? What if they heard sermons with applications for wayward souls? What if the church identified with their shame so they left saying, “I’m not an outlier. They get me. Jesus can help.”
What if, for them, the church became a place of grace?
How Long O Lord
Psalm 13
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Psalms are full of emotion. There has been much discussion in Christian circles about emotions and how to handle them. The emotions we experience as humans are part of what make us made in the image of God. Throughout scripture we see a God with emotions. We see God sorrowful and grieved in Genesis 6 when the wickedness of man is on full display. We see Jesus as a man of sorrows in Isaiah 53. We see Jesus happy in Luke 10 as he celebrates that the Father has made Himself known to the children. In Mark 3 we see Jesus angry with the hardness of hearts He sees in the Pharisees. While God’s emotions are perfect and holy, our emotions have been affected by the curse of sin. So while we may experience sorrow and grief, happiness and anger, we must deal with our emotions carefully and constantly be aware of the sinful tendency we have in response to our emotions.
David was a man who had deep emotions and was not shy to share those emotions in the Psalms. As you read Psalm 13, you see David put a voice to his emotions. First we must see that David did not suppress his feelings. He did not deny how he felt but put names to the emotions. He also did not cry out to his friends and seek pity and consensus with others on how mistreated he was. David took his emotions straight to God. He cried aloud to the God of the universe who is compassionate and caring. Notice the first section of the Psalm is David crying out to God and voicing his emotions. David says he is experiencing sorrow and loneliness. He knows that God is hearing him and caring about him.
Next we see David announce his dependence on God. Our emotions should lead us to God. Since our emotions are not necessarily an accurate view of reality, we need to go to God and seek Him. We are made to be dependent on God. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve were made to depend on God. Now as born sinners, we are still very dependent on God. As we cry out to God and ask for His help, we place ourselves in His care and admit we desperately need Him and His solution for our need.
Finally, we see David rejoice in the greatness of God. No matter how David was feeling, He knew that God was still God. Our God is still the same gracious, loving, forgiving, omnipotent, omnipresent, almighty, holy, immutable God regardless of our changing emotions. We can always celebrate His character whether we are sorrowful, angry, grieved or happy.
We see David repeatedly use this pattern in his laments (see also Psalms 25, 42, and 69 as more examples). He cries aloud to God and pours out his feeling and emotions to God. He then asks God to help him, declaring his dependence on God. He then praises God and commits to following His ways. Let’s follow David’s example as we experience the emotions that come from living in a broken world.
What were you thinking?
“What were you thinking!?!” As a mom of teenage boys, I often think and ask this question when my boys do something that defies my sense of reason. I am desperately searching for purpose in what seems like an act of random insanity. When we ask, “What were you thinking?”, we are asking the individual to explain and account for their words and actions. We are trying to figure out motive and reason behind a choice that has been made. Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinks within himself, so he is”. Our thoughts are important. They determine who we are and what our words and actions will be.
So, what are you thinking? Stop for a minute and think about your thoughts? What consumes your mental energy and what does your mind go to when the world around you is quiet? Take a day and think about your thoughts. Take inventory of what your mind dwells on. God cares about our minds and thoughts and repeatedly gives us directions on what to think about in scripture.
God tells us that we should love Him with our whole mind. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). We should renew our minds. “... be renewed in the spirit of your minds” (Ephesians 4:23). We are to be transformed in our minds. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind...” (Romans 12:2). Scripture tells us to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Philippians 4:8 tells us specifically what to think about. “F inally, brothers and sisters,
” So, what are those things?
Think about whatever is true . Something that is true is something that conforms to reality and fact. We need to think about the truth of who we are - sinners, created beings, dependent and needy. We need to think about the truth of who God is - all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, creator and sustainer of all things, good, gracious, loving, just, etc. When we think true thoughts, we see our need for God. We put into perspective our lack of ability and God’s complete ability to handle our situation. We go to God in prayer and fervently declare praise and ask for help. Allowing your thoughts to be true drives you to the One who cares for you and who is able to act for you.
Think about whatever is noble . Something that is noble is distinguished, magnificent, or of an exalted moral character. When we allow our minds to dwell on the nobility of God we are thinking about His holiness and perfection. We are thinking about His infinitude and complete reign over all things, everywhere, forever. Noble thoughts remind us that God not only created every single atom and molecule, He is sustaining every single one in place at all times. God is “holy, holy, holy”. It is the utmost of who God is. Holy is “other”. We have no word to describe God’s holiness. We can only say that he is “other”, or so different from us our minds cannot accurately conceive Him. Do you spend time thinking about our noble God? Let your mind
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.
meditate on His magnificence and holiness. All the worries and concerns of your day pale in comparison to the One who is sovereign over all.
Think about whatever is right. Right refers to God’s actions. God is righteous because He always does what is best. God not only sees the best possible outcome for you (Jeremiah 29:11), He knows and does the best possible course of action every step of the way (Psalm 139:16). Because God is righteous, He desires us to be righteous. The moment we confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, we receive Jesus’ perfect righteousness in exchange for our sin. But because we are human, and still have the fleshly sin battle within us, the process of being made more righteous, also called progressive sanctification, continues on for our entire lives. God desires us to be ones who live according to the Spirit by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 5:5). When our minds are on the righteous acts of God, He transforms us bit by bit to take on more characteristics of Christ. Do you recount the awesome and mighty works of God to yourself and to your children and friends? Do you think about how faithful God has been to you and your family? Set your minds on things that are right and allow it to transform you into the image and actions of Christ.
Think about whatever is pure . Purity is often associated with how much something is or is not contaminated with other substances. For example, the Ivory Soap company used to boast of its soap being 99 44/100% pure. The company thought this was so amazing (still 66/100 away from complete purity) because we live in a contaminated world. Nothing seems to be 100% pure in our daily existence. Everything has some impurity in it as we live in the fallen world. Hypocrisy is a good antonym for pure. A hypocrite is not as pure as they pretend to be. However, Jesus was completely pure and authentic. He wholeheartedly, without any imperfections, loved and obeyed God. John 5:19 tells us that Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Do you think about the perfection of Christ. Do you think about how He was pure in thought, motive, word, and action. Jesus did only that which He was sent to do. David’s prayer in Psalm 86 is that God would “unite” his heart to fear God. Do you have an undivided heart to fear God? Do your thoughts reveal a pure desire to live authentically for Christ? When God tells us we cannot serve both God and money, He shows us our need for purity. Any duplicity in our hearts is impure. Is there a gap between who you say you are and what you actually are? Think about God’s purity. Dwell on Christ’s pure devotion to His Father. Allow your heart to be united to fear God.
Think about whatever is lovely. Lovely things attract us. They are beautiful and grab our attention. Do you think about God’s loveliness? We live in an amazing part of the world. God’s loveliness is seen in the snowcapped mountains, the sunset over the water, the sounds of different birds, the height and strength of the trees, the sound of spring frogs, and the power of rushing wind. The ultimate beauty in this world is seen in the ugliness of the cross. Christ’s horrific death brought the most beautiful and attractive aspect of God to us. We have forgiveness, redemption, and life because of the loveliness of the cross. We are drawn to Jesus because of the beautiful example of sacrificial love seen on the cross. Lovely things attract us.
What are you attracted to? When you are stressed and feeling anxious, what draws your attention? Do you run to the refrigerator or the TV? Do you run to a favorite hobby or distracting entertainment? Or are you attracted to the most Lovely One? Psalm 27:4 tells us that David prayed that he would dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. David knew that thinking intently on the beauty of God would lead to peace and righteousness. We, too, need to think about God’s lovely character. That is what should attract our thoughts and hearts. A life that reflects God comes from a mind that dwells on His beauty.
Think about whatever is admirable . People we admire are people whose actions are well spoken of and who are regarded highly in general. People who are admirable are people we want to emulate and we aspire to be like them. When we think about Christ’s conduct on earth, we truly see an admirable Man. Christ was humble and served others. He spoke truth with love. He gave freely of His time and energy. He approached the lowest of society and cared for the sick and poor. He took pity on the lame and took time to teach and re-teach patiently.
When we think about Christ’s actions, we want to be like Him. Do you take time to meditate on Christ’s admirable work? Do you think about how He treated others and how He loved and served? As you think about Christ’s example, you will be transformed in the renewing of your mind and you will desire to be more like Him.
Why does it matter what you think about? Because, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7). What you think about becomes a reality in your life. Your thoughts dictate who you are and what you do. Scripture is clear that we are transformed into Christlikeness by transforming our minds. What you think about matters - A LOT!
So, what are you thinking?
For more on this topic, check out Timothy Z. Witmer’s book Mindscape .