That acronym stands for “True,” “Honest,” “Just,” “Pure,” “Lovely,” and “Good Report,” six things that Paul suggests that we think on (Phil 4:8). Unfortunately, my heart is like a factory churning out evil thoughts every minute of every day (Matt 15:19, Mark 7:21). More so than anything else, I look forward to the decommissioning of that factory should I be found worthy to be in the Kingdom of God. In considering the paradox of being asked to think on virtuous and praiseworthy things while having a heart generating evil thoughts, the first, automatic reaction is “why do I have to think on these sorts of things?” (i.e.: reasoning that it is enough of a struggle to not “do” sinful things, God should be satisfied with that, let alone asking me to go one step further and control my thoughts). For all the wonderful names and titles of YHWH that Jesus could have taught us to address him by, the name “our father” (Matt 6:9-13) this is the key to understanding why God, our Father, has asked this of us.
A Godly father does not place grievous commandments on his children (1John 5:1-6), but rather gives his children commandments to provide for them, to guard them from evil, and to teach them. As a man thinks, so he becomes. That is to say, thoughts are the seeds that sprout actions, and actions blossom into character. It is therefore impossible to uncouple what you think about from the character you are developing. When we find our thoughts drifting towards evil we should be on red-alert, because the minute opportunity presents itself, sin will take hold of us and leave us with only painful consequences. A covetous man left alone with someone else’s goods becomes a thief; one who quietly despises their fellowman becomes a slanderer when given the semi-anonymity of Facebook; and inner-pride drives one to boast when given an audience. We don’t want to become thieves, slanderers, and boasters — those who care about us don’t want that for us, and our Heavenly Father certainly doesn’t want to have to exclude us from the Kingdom of God! God is telling us that it matters what we think about because it is a safe guard against evil. If we only thought things of people that were of good report we would never slander our fellow man. If we were obsessed with being true, the gain of theft would never be outweighed by the deceit of it. If we loved being honest we would never brag because the truth is we have nothing that we have not been given (1 Cor 4:7). Pure thoughts would prevent women from ever being treated in a way that a man would not want his sister to be treated.
As per usual, despite our flesh casting doubts on God’s good guidance, there are some undeniable benefits to leaning on our Father’s understanding. Our character comes with a default setting from the day we are born, specifically the production of evil, first in thought and then in action, given any sort of opportunity. We must realize we have been called to forsake the squalid moral condition we are born with and rise to be sons and daughters of God. There ought to be a sense of urgency to make this ascension, for the longer we unwittingly let sin play a part in our lives the deeper the scars it leaves. The images from video games I played, the contorted views of the roles of men and women I formed, the self-glorifying song lyrics I sub-consciously memorized, the vile ways I learned to rebuke an adversary, hinder the development of a spiritual character to this day. It doesn’t happen all the time, but there are times when even before the emblems my mind drifts back to the unwholesome things I filled it with during the Godless times in my life. The point, or perhaps the warning, is this: don’t fill your mind with evil that is going to hinder your spiritual development for the rest of your life. There will always be a battle between the spiritual character we are trying to grow, and the fleshly character that dwells in us. The sooner we start nourishing the spiritual man instead of the carnal man, the greater our chances of entering into the Kingdom of God will be.
Like hymn 405 of the hymn book says, “we make the answer now” — but where can we go to find nourishment for a spiritual character so that our answer can be the correct one? When the disciples were asked if they too would leave Christ like so many others already had, Peter replied “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). And he was right. There are many places we can go, many books we can read, many worldly mentors we can turn to for character development, but the Bible alone offers eternal life. Will the author of The Secret tell you that if the dead can think positively about the resurrection, it will happen? Probably not, but Jesus did say that those that believe in him, and by extension the hope of Israel, will partake in the resurrection (John 11:25-26). If you ever want to kill the mood when worldly advice for “good living” is being offered just ask the question, “will any of this advice matter if I get hit by a bus going home?” Within the Bible, God is offering us more than just good advice for being citizens of this present world, He is offering us the kind of advice that can grow a character whose name will be written in the book of life, and never blotted out (Rev 3:5). What better reason is there to open the Bible and start developing a Godly character now?
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One