Week 48 Colossians
Yesterday I was thinking about Paul’s list of Things-To-Think-About…wondering what was involved in thinking about something I couldn’t visualize pictorially.
I wondered if it would make a difference to rewrite the list – an anti-list – a list of Things-Not-To-Think-About. I negativized Paul’s list: don’t fix your thoughts on what is false and dishonorable and wrong. Don’t think about things that are impure and ugly and despicable. Don’t think about things that are inferior and contemptible… Changing the polarity didn’t help. My anti-list didn’t have any physical realness either. No real-world tactility for my thinking to latch onto.
So anyway Philippians 4 was still in the back of my mind today when I landed on this: let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on the earth. Okay this more or less confirms what Paul said in Philippians but I’m still left wondering: how am I supposed to let heaven fill my thoughts? Fortunately for me this time Paul doesn’t leave me hanging. He tacks on some Actionables to Avoid – sexual-sins sexual-impurity lust evil-desires greed anger rage malicious-behavior slander foul-language lying…like that. So…something tangible I actually can think about doing.
Paul’s list of Principles-To-Think-About can convert – potentially – into some real life applications.
I guess some people figure the bible is just Things-Not-To-Do but it’s actually a bit of a relief when I know what can and can’t be done. It’s hard to do but better to know.
Note: quote from Colossians 3:2 (NLT); and see Colossians 3:5-6