Whatever!

 

“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.”

—Philippians 4:8

Do you catch yourself using the fad expression, “Whatever!”? I do. In our current culture, it has become an expression of resignation to something less than ideal we feel we have accept.

In the verse above, “whatever” indicates the importance of discrimination in choosing the things about which God expects us to think. He concerns Himself with not only what we do, but also with what we think about.

In Colossians 3:2, Paul admonishes us by saying:

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 3:1, says:

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus.

The list in Philippians contains descriptive adjectives we rarely use in our current culture: noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. Can we even define these words?

Christians, moved by God about their thoughts, will need to look in uncommon places to find such things on which to dwell. We can start with Scripture. How often do we put our minds to memorizing verses that God has brought to our attention? How many times God has brought to our awareness a verse that speaks to our needs?

We can also memorize the words to hymns that draw our attention to Christ. Many of us know familiar hymns, and with a little polishing could easily recite the texts from memory. The rhyme of the words and the tune will make remembering hymns even easier than memorizing Scripture verses.

I can’t count the number of times God has brought a line from a hymn to my mind while I’m praying to encourage me or counsel me. This kind of thinking fits perfectly with the adjectives in the verse at the beginning of this blog post.

Other beautiful and thought-worthy things with which we can fill our minds—uncommonly though they may occur in the surrounding culture—would include such things as good music, poetry, wholesome reading, nature walks, or conversation with uplifting friends.

Jesus said, as recorded in Mark 12:30:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Choosing to discipline our minds by thinking about praiseworthy things will help us go a long way toward fulfilling this command of our Lord.

Whatever! Indeed! Whatever fits the description of noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy! It takes discriminating taste and a mind to please our Lord. Let’s just think about that!