Hold That Thought! Whatever is True…

Hold That Thought! Whatever is True…

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is TRUE, whatever is HONORABLE, whatever is RIGHTEOUS, whatever is PURE, whatever is WINSOME, whatever is ADMIRABLE, 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 buy 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. s 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.” 

TRUE: (Greek, “alethese”). Only that which is true is undeniably authentic and genuine. Truth is the only absolute in the world that fits reality. If everything else in the world falls part, only Truth will remain standing. Truths are the building blocks of all creation. Truth is the true Reality that upholds the world’s reality. Truth is that which can never be truly altered or changed. Truth is that which is universally trustworthy as facts of life, the foundation of what is truly real in our life experience. Truths are the plumblines from which to measure our lives. In God’s mind, truth is common knowledge. Absolute truth lines up with God’s perspectives as established facts, as opposed to a person’s changeable opinions or preferences. Absolute truth is the solid ground on which we can walk, as opposed to the uncertain ground of deceit, illusion, disbelief or superstition. Truths are the tangible fundamentals of existence issued forth from the intangible mind of God. Truth is always authentically true even when discounted or disbelieved. Since the Almighty God is the ultimate source of all truth, then it follows that the ultimate presence of truth resides in the Trinity of Truth: Father God is Truth, the Lord Jesus is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is Truth. “All truth is God’s truth.” 

It’s in our DNA. Despite our foolish resistance to the existence of truth, human beings are also hard-wired to find a logical reason for our existence, to discover a meaningful purpose for life itself. That purpose, of course, has to fit with reality, and that’s when absolute truth enters the story. Life meaning finds its stability on the solid ground of truth. Some cultures were better than others in this quest for meaning. Some, like the Hebrews, discovered life purpose through their relationship with their Lord Yahweh.

Gospel Truths: 

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!” (John 8:32).

“And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:14, 17).

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

“I AM the Truth!” (John 14:6).

“This I why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is a friend of the Truth, who belongs to the Truth, listens to my voice.’ And Pilate said to Jesus, ‘What is truth?” (John 18:37-38).

“Make them holy by your truth; teach them your Word which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them, so they can be made holy by your truth.” (Jesus praying to the Father for His followers, in John 17:17-19).

“These things says the Amen (‘the Truth’), the Faithful and True Witness…” (Jesus referring to His biblical titles in Revelation 3:14).

Mission Statement of Jesus. What led up to Pilate’s famous question as he stood toe-to-toe with Jesus? What prompted Pilate’s question was the Son of God giving His life purpose in one sentence: to “bear witness to the truth.” Jesus took on flesh in order to reveal the indisputable fact of God’s existence in the world. Jesus testified to the truth by revealing Himself, the Author of truth. Jesus came into the world to show us that truth actually exists. He became incarnate to show the world what God’s living Truth looks like in real life. The Father was clear about His request of the Son. I want you to bear witness to the truth, He instructed. I want you to save the world we so carefully created, He said. I want you to be truth in the flesh on the earth, God to the rescue representing the truth of my love. Did the Father send the Son on a fool’s errand? Maybe, if you mean that Jesus was a holy fool.

Are the Gospels True? Can we trust the Gospels? Since we base all these absolute truths on Scripture, particularly the Gospels, this is the first question that needs to be answered. If we can’t trust that the Gospels are true and God’s Word, then all the claims to the nature of truth will not have a leg to stand on. So, the answer here is… Yes, we can safely claim that the Gospels in the Bible are true and are reliable as a foundation of our belief in in the truth of Jesus. For many reasons, it does not require blind faith to accept the Gospels are true:

• Historical Evidence: The existence of Jesus as described in the Gospels has been verified by non-Christian historians, like the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius. The life of Christ has been so well-documented by Jewish manuscripts and many ancient historians that there is more evidence for His existence than for historical figures from Plato to Caesar;
• Manuscripts: The Gospels have more ancient copies from the original texts than any other ancient text in history. There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the Gospels, as early as the 2nd century. Those manuscripts were written so close in time to the originals that the biblical Gospels have been declared authentic, even by textual critics;
• Accuracy: The thousands of manuscripts based on the original texts have been proven to be virtually identical to the originals. That’s the way Jewish and early Christian scholars worked. They were trained to repeat what they see accurately, meticulously, and essentially verbatim. The reader of the Gospels can be assured that the Gospels being read today are faithfully reporting what was originally written by the gospel authors;
• Archeology: Time and again the geographical and historical details have been corroborated by extensive archeological digs, and the accuracy of Scripture in general and the Gospels in particular has been proven far above other literary and historical sources;
• Eye Witnesses: The Gospels were written in firsthand accounts by eye witnesses and composed within their lifetimes through their personal experiences with Jesus. These writers went to their death proclaiming the truth of their gospel accounts. Would they have sacrificed their very lives for something they knew to be a lie or a sham? No, they wouldn’t;
• Common Sense: Do any of the Gospel reports ring false, or written in a fictional form? Does the character and life of Jesus seem concocted or invented in some way? Have His moral teachings been bettered or seen as unwise through history? Jesus is presented in the Gospels as someone that could not be invented out of thin air. The reader logically cannot see Him as merely a great moral teacher, since He claimed to be on an even level with God. Did Jesus seem like a liar, a fraud, insane? No, He didn’t. So the only option left is that what the Gospels say about Jesus is true. Since we have more evidence that the Jesus of the Gospels is true, is more trustworthy than Plato or Caesar or any other historical figure, we can accept the truth of the Gospels using logic and common sense.
• Personal Change: The Gospels have been proven true by the personal experiences of countless readers by containing a life-changing spiritual power. It’s clear that God has invested His divine energy into the words of the Gospels. Many, many skeptics have done thorough research to investigate the authenticity of the Gospels, and they consistently come to the realization that they are simply believable and completely true.

So what? Once we have accepted that the Gospels of the Bible are true, reliable, and authentic, then we can move on to what they have to reveal about the truth of Jesus. Which begs questions like these… So What? Why should I bother? What difference does this make in my life? Does the truth of the Gospels even matter? At all? Well, if one is honestly and intentionally seeking the truth about life, and then basing one’s life on that truth, then this matters a great deal. One glaring example of this is that the resurrection of Jesus is the most well-verified event in human history. Isn’t that a fact that calls for our response? When we ignore what is established truth, then this becomes the most important factor in one’s life, doesn’t it? Because of the truth of the Gospels, which includes the resurrection, then it follows that only in Jesus can we find the irrefutable, absolute truths in the universe. “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6).

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.” (Blaise Pascal, French scientist, mid-17th century).