As I post this today, there has been so much disappointment in recent weeks. I just feel like I need to be walking on this path to peace even more. I am sure that many of you can relate. Verse 8 is packed with such an important concept that it gets it’s own blog post. A couple of times in this series I refer to modern psychology lining up with God’s Word. This is one of those times. Although we have intrusive thoughts, we do have power to choose what we think about. I practice a lot of Cognitive Therapy and this verse and practical application offer a look into how to put into practice parts of cognitive restructuring.

Philippians 4:8 – “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.”

Another super practical verse here from Paul. There is so much noise in the world…internet…social media…music…television…radio…podcasts…other’s opinions. In all of these things, we have a choice of what we choose to allow in our minds. We also have a choice about what we think about. Now, there are thoughts that pop into our heads (intrusive thoughts) that we don’t have much control over, but it’s what we do with all of these thoughts. Sometimes, we need to follow Paul’s advice here and choose to pivot and think about Godly things. In therapy, we might call this replacing our thoughts. When something pops in our head that is against our values, negative, or does not point us in a healthy direction, we have to take those thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5…see how scripture and psychology align again) and replace those thoughts with something true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Then Paul says at the end of the verse, “think about those things.” That is a tangible action. It’s not enough to know what we should be thinking about, we actually have to choose to think about those things.

Practical application: First step is to become more mindful about the things you think about. You can read more about mindfulness in a past blog post. Then, when I notice myself thinking and focusing on negativity, false beliefs, lies from people or the enemy, something disturbing, complaining…I have to stop…and then replace that thought with something from the list from Paul. For instance, in this time of so much news constantly being thrown at us about the pandemic, when I find myself caught up in statistics that I am questioning, or in all of the things I do not have answers to, I choose to think about God’s truths and what I do know. God tells me that He uses everything for the good, and I also know that this earth is my temporary home and that someday there will be a life without all of this hardship.

Check out the video for part three.