Having Wisdom in our Thoughts

 

This week in our series on fixing our thoughts we are going to focus on the word “pure.” When we read the list in Philippians 4:8 and we come to the word pure, we might think of it with a sexual connotation, because that is how it is mostly used in our world today. We may even think we are off the hook because we do not feel we are doing anything wrong in that area of our lives. Being pure is about so much more than that. When we look at the Greek word in this verse it is “hagnos”, which means pure, chaste, clear, pure from carnality, modest, and clean. So while it can be a part of how we handle ourselves in our relationships, it goes much deeper.

There are several other verses that use this same word and we can gain a better understanding by looking at them. 1 Timothy 5:22b says, “Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.” This is actually harder than we might think. How often do we sit around with people and listen to the stories they share in jest of things they are doing that are not beneficial to their relationship with God? What kinds of shows do you watch, books do you read, music do you listen to? Do they share in the sins of others? I am not trying to get legalistic and say you need to throw all of these things out, but if you are struggling in your thought life, these are areas that you can look at to see if they are affecting you more than you think they are.

I used to struggle with extreme fear. I couldn’t go out at night by myself. I even hated walking down the stairs in my house when it was dark downstairs. What I did like was reading intense mystery novels. I read them A LOT. I didn’t even realize how much they affected me until one day I was in Los Angeles at a hotel. Keep in mind, at this point in my life I had rarely been to a real city for more than a few hours at a time, and definitely never in a hotel. I was having to do some laundry in the hotel laundry room and it was about midnight. I was in an elevator going back up to my room when the elevator just stopped. Mid-floor. Just me, in a city, in an elevator- with what I was sure was an evil murderer hatching a plot to murder and dismember me. It was actually only a few seconds and then it started going again, but for those few seconds, I was so scared. When I got off the elevator I had to walk down the hall to our room. That was the worst walk in my whole entire life. That night I realized that I had filled my mind with so much murder and scary things that it fed my imagination to an unhealthy place. I realized I was putting more of that in my mind than the Word of God. Did I stop reading those books altogether? For a while, yes. I took time to take a break from that and begin to be more intentional to be in the Word of God. As I did that some of my fears began to recede. They didn’t go completely away, but they did get better.

Another verse that uses the same word is James 3:17. This verse says, “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” When I teach my students about trying to figure out what words mean, I tell them to look at the words around it to gain context. This says that the wisdom from God is pure. If we look around we see that if it is pure it is also likely peace-loving, gentle, willing to listen to others and see their point of view, full of mercy, not showing favoritism, and sincere. If you want to see if you are living a life of purity, and thinking pure thoughts, this is a great list to compare to.

When we think pure thoughts it will affect how we treat others. We will be able to show more mercy and be more gentle. We will be able to stop and look at people as people, not just their issues. When Jesus saw people living in sin, he never went up to them and told them that God hates them. He didn’t throw the stones at them. He was gentle and loving and then was able to speak the truth into their lives. If we are thinking and living pure we will have good deeds, not just to those we approve of. How do we know that? Because we also will not be showing favoritism. It won’t matter whether they are rich or poor, young or old, black or white, or anywhere in between. We will love them because God loves them. 

In Philippians 4:9 it says that when we fix our thoughts THEN the God of peace will be with you. If we want to protect our peace, we have to fix our thoughts on what is pure. Purity will bring us to a place where we are not having to worry about as many things as the world around us. It will help us to rely more fully on Christ and become more like him. It will also allow us to point others to a relationship that gives them peace.

Let’s fix our eyes on what is pure this week. Let’s be intentional in what we think and how we are treating those around us.