After yesterdays sermon on Philippians 4:8 I have been thinking about practical steps that we can take to focus our thoughts on things that have the qualities listed in that verse. How can we influence what we think about during our “down time” each day?
Besides the obvious ones such as daily Bible reading and Bible memorization, I came up with a few others:
- Listening to good worship music. There have been many times when I get a song stuck in my head and “listen” to it over and over during the day. If it is a Christ-centered song with solid biblical content then this becomes a form of meditation on scriptural truth.
- “Uploading” some good mental content before mental “free time.” I sometimes work on my sermons for a while and then go to the gym. While I am exercising my mind is continuing to reflect on the biblical passages that I have been studying.
- Reading books that are consistent with Christian values. I don’t mean just Christian books, but any books that take a positive view of qualities such as humility, honesty, self-sacrifice, and resisting temptation.
What suggestions do you have? Share them in a comment so that we can all benefit.