Think about such things~

   Yesterday, in children's church, Philippians 4:8 was our topic verse. "8Finally, 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." At first I remember looking at the curriculum and saying, "Oh come on! Just give me a bible story to teach! Simply teaching this verse to kids is going to be so difficult!"  I even at one point had decided to say forget it and go with my own plan, however in the end I decided to give it a try. So~ I then had to look at this verse and ask, ok, what does this really mean? So many times, we read things in the bible and we just keep reading for the sake of reading but never really stop and think about what is really being said. At least I do anyway....I might have issues with being an active reader/listener, actually now I think about it...( save that topic for another blog! lol ) Moving on~ I decided to dig a little deeper. Well, you have to start by looking at the adjectives and nouns; True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable, Excellent, and Praiseworthy. In this passage Paul writes that we are to "think" about these things. In thinking about them, we have to decide what they are. So~ in children's church we did a whole lot of brainstorming to decide, what is truth? We continued this process with all of these words. I was really quite amazed at the insightful answers that they came up with. We discovered that God's word is true. Jesus, is true. God's love is true. The word noble, we decided meant just and worth fighting for. I asked the kids what is noble and worth fighting for? Freedom, love, God, salvation,God's word, and family was the response. We continued on through, deciding our hearts should be pure and our minds. That God's creation is lovely and deserves our thought, and that God is excellent and praiseworthy. There was so much to the conversation I can't recall every piece but you get the idea. The next part to finding out what this verse is telling us after we ask what? is to ask why? Why should we think about these things? I believe the answer to that is if we focus or "think' about what is true, right, pure, ....ect. We are more able to "think" like Jesus. If we keep that daily focus and shield our minds from those thoughts that keep our vision clouded, when a situation arises we have the ability to bring God glory. We are more in control to make that choice.  When our minds our clouded, however, we might as well be walking around wearing "beer goggles" (excuse the terminology) and in a form of intoxication. Issues from our past, insecurities, and ego will be guiding our actions. In turn those thing become what is glorified in our lives. It is daily when we make that choice to "think" that true change and a growing of the heart of Jesus can be cultivated. I "think" Paul was really on to something here, something big, and life changing. I am going to pray that God cultivate that in me, and that I might truly understand the affects from losing focus in day to day life. Good Ol' Paul, such a smart guy! lol