Eliminating Negative Thinking – Philippians 4:4-9
Part Four
“An
idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” That
adage advises hearers to keep busy in meaningful and worthwhile pursuit as
sitting idly potentially leads to dangerous choices and even more despairing
consequences. Lazily watching television
and playing video games creates mental vacuums for fear, doubt and negativity
to fill. Paul suggests ideas to the
Philippians for their quiet times of reflection. He exhorts them to think about truth, nobility,
justice, purity, love, admiration, excellence and anything else that may be
praiseworthy. If disciples occupy their
minds and hearts with these spiritual ideals, then they do not allow negativity
an inch in their consciousness.
Paul
concludes the passage with a final remark of assurance of God’s peaceful
presence. But, his last recommendation
to the Philippian Christians is an instruction to apply “whatever you have
learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into
practice.” The best means of determining
the worth of any sermon is assessing its practical application in your
life. Most unfortunately, many churches
follow the secular and humanistic trends of American popular culture with an
emphasis of entertainment and feeling good.
These hedonistic impulses stipulate the value of a sermon or worship
experience depends significantly upon their abilities to make listeners feel
good or leave with a sense of enjoyment similar to departing a movie theatre or
concert hall. In great contrast, Paul
warns the Philippians against such emotional responses which mimicked the
licentiousness and permissive immorality of the Roman Empire during the first
century. Discipleship development,
individually and congregationally, depends heavily upon willingness, discipline
and commitment to apply Christian principles within daily living.
To
that end, I offer five practical applications for eliminating negative
thinking. First, parallel to the image
of the sentinel standing guard, learn to arrest negative thoughts as they begin
to solidify. Do not allow them to cross
the threshold of your lips. Immediately
apprehend them and discard them. Second,
replace negative thoughts with positive reflections of God’s past faithfulness
in your life. Maturing as a person of
faith means developing a more genuine reliance upon God’s unquestionable
faithfulness toward you. As He is the
same yesterday, today and forevermore, He does not lose power to resolve your
challenges. As the burdens increase and
the tests become more insurmountable, He gives more grace. He will resolve today’s obstacles as
assuredly as He empowered you to conquer yesterday’s trials. In the words of the hymn writer, think of His
goodness to you.
Third,
cultivate the character of perpetual thanksgiving in all matters. Grateful people are rarely negative, fearful
or skeptical. They rely steadfastly upon
God’s goodness. Give thanks at all
times. Fourth, affirm the Word of God in
times of testing. Ask the Holy Spirit to
share a few memory verses with you.
Meditate and affirm them by repeating them aloud as many times as
necessary until they seep deeply within the crevices of your mind, closets of
your heart and cellars of your psyche.
Fifth, ask for God’s peace. In
the familiar passage of John 14:1-6, the Lord Jesus Christ comforts the
disciples regarding His impending betrayal, denial, desertion and death. “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe
in God; believe also in Me.” As we rest
in His peace, fear and negativity will never be able to afflict us. Our heads and hearts will agree and praise
His accordingly as we intellectually and emotionally affirm His Word. More practically, we experience wellness,
healing and wholeness as we eliminate negative thinking.
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