Hold That Thought! Whatsoever is Commendable…
Hold That Thought! Whatsoever is Commendable…
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is TRUE, whatever is HONORABLE, whatever is RIGHTEOUS, whatever is PURE, whatever is WINSOME, whatever is COMMENDABLE, if there is any MORAL EXCELLENCE, if there is anything PRAISEWORTHY… dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8).
Dwell – (Greek, “logizesthe”): an accounting term that literally means to carefully use your reason as you take full account of something; to thoughtfully evaluate something in a sensible way as you consider the worth of something; to calculate with focus and discernment; to personally measure what counts in the eyes of God. In this passage, to dwell on these worthwhile realities is to fix your mind on them, to meditate on them, to fill your mind with them, to focus deeply on them. To dwell on these heavenly realities is to dwell within them, to find a home inside these godly attributes, to think about these things to the extent that you are living into them. To dwell upon these things also means that your mind is creating a home for them to reside deep within you. To dwell upon is to allow these spiritual realities to become a part of your life, dwelling in you and shaping you. These virtues are not merely “passing fancies” or temporary mental events, but are fixed in your mind to the extent that they become a part of your character. The root word for “logizesthe” is the rich, meaningful Greek word “logos.” So, to dwell on these aspects of divine goodness means we are to become “logos-like” in the life of the mind, to think and reason like the heavenly Logos. To be logos-like is to truly use the mind of Logos-Christ which has been given to us. To be logos-like is to actively participate in the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1-2) within by filling it with that which fills the mind of Christ Himself. To be logos-like is to continue daily the holy process of thinking deeply about those realities that are pleasing to God and would keep drawing us into a personal relationship with Him. Naturally, to choose to dwell on these life-giving realities implies that at the same time we are rejecting those thoughts that are unhealthy, destructive, and unworthy of God’s presence in our lives.
Interesting Thoughts about Thoughts:
(1.) I am what I think. I become what I choose to think about. My character is shaped by the life of my mind. My attitudes are built on the foundations of my thoughts. My lifestyle is determined by whatever I fill my mind with. My destiny begins with my thought life.
(2.) According to the latest brain imaging studies (2022), we each have about 6,200 different thoughts a day. They are called “thought worms” and are distinct, measurable shifts in brain activity that represent the transition from one idea or image to another.
(3.) We each can rewire our brains by how we think. It’s called “cognitive reframing,” based on the plasticity of our brains that are able to build new neural pathways by choosing to think differently. We each have the ability to train our minds to identify harmful thoughts, replace them with life-giving thoughts, and then practice those healthier thoughts through repetition until those new thoughts become a mental habit.
(4.) When dwelling on thoughts like what St. Paul suggested above, we are making new neural pathways that become dominant and succeed in rewiring the brain to have the ability to naturally filter out harmful thoughts and welcome life-giving thoughts.
(5.) When we are “in Christ,” we are inviting God’s Holy Spirit to renew our minds and enable us to rewire our brains, our ways of thinking, which determine our attitudes, behaviors and feelings. Each person hs the ability to do a lot of the legwork in this process, but only the Spirit of God can do the heavy lifting and enable us to think with the “mind of Christ.”
(6.) In this sinful world, harmful thoughts assault us every day, and there’s not much we can do about that. But we can try to keep them at a minimum by not entertaining these thoughts, by not welcoming them into our minds in such a way that we dwell on them and fill our minds with them. As Martin Luther once said about temptations… “We can’t stop the birds from flying overhead, but we can stop them from building a nest in our hair.”
Commendable: (Greek, “euphemos”): This is the only time that this word is used in the New Testament, and it means of good report and worthy of being applauded. Readers here are being encouraged to fill their minds with those thoughts that have stood the test of time and deserve a good reputation. Fix our minds on ideas that have proven to be well spoken of and admired. Dwell on those thoughts that are highly regarded and accepted by those whose judgment we respect. Euphemos was used in the Greek pagan culture for the thoughtful words that were spoken to the gods immediately before the sacrifice was offered. Evidently, they believed that the pagan gods were especially attentive to what the worshipper said just before the sacrifice, and so the pressure was on to make those words count, that those words better be worthy of speaking to the gods. It’s interesting that St. Paul would use this particular term as he encouraged believers to think about those things that would be acceptable in God’s hearing. These words in our mind, Paul is saying, were to be of good report and worthy of His admiration. We are called to occupy our minds with thoughts that are capable of being commended and approved by others and by God Himself.
Hear and Do. To make sure the Philippian Christians understood the whole point of this teaching, Paul closed this passage with a key Hebraic principle: “Practice what you have learned…” (4:9). The Greek word for practice is “prassete,” which means to keep on practicing, make it an ongoing daily effort to put these aspects of goodness into one’s lifestyle. Keep converting thought into action and it becomes a life-giving mental habit. Paul is saying that dwelling on something isn’t merely a cognitive experience, some abstract exercise in the mind that remains disconnected to the way one lives. Remember to complete the hearing with the doing. Flesh out the spiritual realities. Put these divine qualities into action. All these spiritual realities are intended to be practiced in daily life, becoming a part of one’s character. To fix one’s mind on these aspects of divine goodness results in those aspects becoming a fixed part of who we are in Christ. “Be doers of the Word,” says St. James in his letter (1:22), “and not hearers only.” We could add to that, “and not thinkers only.”
Fixed on Jesus. The fact that we are being taught to welcome certain spiritual realities into our minds and to dwell (“logizesthe“) on these thoughts with the Greek word rooted in Logos, should remind us to do what is healthiest for our minds and is repeated throughout the New Testament… “Fix your mind on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2); “Set your mind on things above.” (Colossians 3:2); “Set your mind on the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 8:5); “Thoughtfully consider Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1); “You will guard in perfect peace those whose mind is stayed on you, Lord.” (Isaiah 26:3).