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You Are What You Think By Pastor Kevin Feder

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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

“You are what you eat,” goes the popular saying. Scripture seems to teach us that you are what you think. Philippians 4:8 addresses the thinking faculty of a believer and suggests that it is a crucial part of their faith in God. There is an ongoing aspect to Philippians 4:8, suggesting that our thinking is something we need to constantly assess and constantly manage. Our thinking is a vital part of our worship to God. At any given moment we are relating to God poorly or relating to him well. It is all based on what we are thinking and more importantly, what we are thinking of God’s truth and his beauty.

Philippians 4:8 is by no means an anomaly in the NT. Scripture is filled with instructives that call attention to a person’s thinking/minds. Romans 12:1-2 links transformation with the “renewal of your mind.” Ephesians 4:17-24 makes the connection between wicked living and the “futility of their minds” (verse 17, 24). Elsewhere it seems the idea of unbelief is closely related to the concept presented in Philippians 4:8. It has been convicting for me, a believer in Christ, to embrace the fact that I struggle with unbelief. Again, God isn’t calling us to a one-time decision but a lifestyle of embracing his truth, thinking about it and believing it!

This passage has been profound in the way I help others but it has also been good for my own soul. How many of my problems are owing to the fact that my thought life is disordered? Even me, the stalwart believer I consider myself to be, actually struggles with believing God. I don’t doubt God’s existence, not ever, actually. However, I do doubt his goodness, his wisdom, his love for me, to name a few. Philippians 4:8 comes knocking on my door to help me see that I have a problem with my thinking life. Not only that I give thought to things that are unholy, but that I think of God in ways that are flatly untrue. Furthermore, Philippians 4:8 doesn’t merely teach me to correct my thinking for the sake of correcting my thinking, it tells me that issues I face such as anxiety are the bitter fruits that grow on the vine of bad thinking.

Thus, “whatever is true…think about these things.” How simple. How profound.

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