Day Twenty Four

Bible Reading

Phil 4:8-9 Finally, brothers and sisters, 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. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Devotional

One ugly fact of journalism is that statistically people are more likely to be drawn to and pass along bad news over good news. This has led to our current structure of news programming and even led to the journalism cliche, “If it bleeds, it leads”. As humans, we are drawn to dwell on negative thoughts as a default far more than positive ones. In order to fight against this natural desire, we have to be intentional about dwelling on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. This is important because what we allow our minds to focus on influences our actions. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to what we are thinking about. Are we focusing on the freedom we have in Christ? Are we intentionally renewing our minds with God’s truth? Or are we allowing our minds to replay our minds to replay past mistakes, untruths, and hurts over and over again. God made our minds to be powerful, but we must learn how to cultivate thoughts that are helpful and life-giving instead of harmful and debilitating. What we think about we often bring about. Let’s examine our lives and the information we are allowing to influence us through television, news, books, and social media. Let’s be people who choose to focus on God’s truth instead of the world.

Question to Think About

What is the main source of the negative thoughts that you personally tend to dwell on?