Convictions.

Lately God has really been at work in my life.  I have been convicted of so many things.  First, I've been convicted of what I mentioned in my Philippians post.  God is now working in my life and bringing on new convictions!  This one also has roots in a verse from Philippians.  Specifically, Philippians 4:8.  God is instructing believers to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. Our pastor has been focusing on this verse during his morning sermons.  I've been trying to reflect on what he teaches during the week.  Yesterday, as I was reflecting on this verse, I realized how often I don't think about things that fit this description.  I don't always fill my mind with noble and pure thoughts!  And by noble, I also mean thinking about senseless things. Things that are unimportant.  God also instructs us in Ephesians 4:29 to basically watch what we say!  From the New Living Translation: "Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them."  What we say has a lot to do with what we fill our minds with.  For example, when we fill our minds with perverse humor, we are going most likely speak in that manner.  This week, and for the next three weeks (they say it takes three weeks to establish a habit), I want to focus on God.  I want to focus on noble things. Things that have eternal significance. This isn't to say I cannot laugh, be silly, think about paying my bills, what is for dinner, etc... but is is to say that I will not laugh at crude things, hurtful things... I will not be silly when it is inappropriate, I will not focus my sole attention on paying my bills and worry about dinner.  I will give it to God. 

This brings me to another point:  reality.  Oh how I hate reality t.v. I don't really like t.v. anyway. It seriously brings about a state of boredom.  I could be reading, studying God's word, cleaning, actually making my life productive.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with watching t.v.  I do enjoy a good show every once and a while.  Think about it, how noble, true, and pure is reality t.v. (or t.v. in general)?  There ARE real things going on in this world. Children without homes and food.  People who lost their jobs, their homes.  There are unwanted pregnancies. Suicides.  Murder.  There are real things happening everyday.  Real things that really matter.  I want to focus on these things of eternal significance.  I used to love country music.  I'm not really a fan of just country anymore.  I like songs from all genres of music.  But, I did find this song on a friend's facebook page.  And, how true it is.  When does reality t.v. ever focus on the couple who has been married 57 years? They still hold hands. They stand beside each other.  Instead, its all about pleasure.  Television focuses on the person who is living and leading a life of sin. Let's face it, we like sin. We are human. Well, my old self likes sin anyway. But my new self doesn't.  But why feed our old self by filling our minds with sin? We should be feeding our new self with Jesus. Goal for the next three weeks (and ultimately the rest of my life on Earth):  to focus on the things Paul writes about in Philippians: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.