What are you letting fill your mind?

Bible passage: Philippians 4:8
“Summing it all up, friends I’d say you’ll do best by
filling your minds and meditating on what is
true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling,
gracious-the best, not the worst;
the beautiful, not the ugly;
things to praise; not things to curse.
Put into practice what you learned from me,
what you heard and saw and realised.
Do that, and God, who makes everything work together,
will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

So many times we focus on our mistakes, our fears, our weaknesses and our past failures. This creates a cloud of depression stifling the joy from our lives and blinding us from the blessings of the present day. It  gradually makes us incapable of reaching our full potential as all of our energy is wasted on what really isn’t important.
Thankfully this isn’t the life God planned for us and the moment we gave our lives to Christ, He freed us from the burden of our sins and gave us a new life in Him filled with peace, love, joy and hope. What many of us fail to realise is that although we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, filled with His spirit and promised eternity with him in heaven, our flesh is still active within us constantly luring us back to common habits and desires that are against the spirit of God. Fortunately, God has given us a way out by studying and obeying His word and renewing our minds which frankly requires EFFORT. It is our responsibility to remain in the presence of God by keeping our focus on Him and thinking about the things that are pleasing unto Him rather than the things of this world or ourselves for that matter. Don’t get me wrong it is a good thing to take care of one’s self, after all, our body is the temple of God and should be taken care of. The problem lies when we focus excessively on ourselves which ultimately brings no fulfillment.  I like Philippians 4:8  because it gives us an overview of the things we should meditate on. Meditating on things that are pure, right and confirmable with Gods word will not only change our mindset in life but also the way in which we act and respond in various situations. One thing I find helpful when struggling to control my thoughts is to start off by weeding out the thoughts that don’t agree with the things listed in the verse by asking myself questions like ‘is what I’m  thinking about right now pure and true?’ and from there work my way to more positive thoughts. Consistently working on our minds sets us in the right direction to be more Christ-like in a world that is desperate for Christ.