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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Philippians 4:8-9
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Garbage in = Garbage out!
This is also a choice, isn’t it? Our attitude is our own affair and what we choose to focus on and fill our minds with contributes to the influences that affect our attitudes and demeanour.
It never ceases to amaze me what some Christians spend their leisure time doing. You see, as we saw from Romans 12:2, it does matter what we do with our minds. As we know from computer terminology, “Garbage in = garbage out.”
Isn’t it interesting how hard it is to read the Bible for 5 minutes and yet how easy it is to spend 30 minutes reading the daily newspaper and 1 hour on a novel. You listen to some Christians talking and it is quite obvious that they spend hours watching T.V. and reading the gossip columns of magazines and yet can’t find the time to attend the weeknight Cell/Small Group gathering or Church Prayer Meeting.
Actually, we win it or lose it in our private devotional time. You see, we are all individually responsible for what we concentrate our minds on.
We all have exactly the same amount of time in a day and in a week. Interesting that, isn’t it? We may have had different backgrounds, live in different socio-economic strata but we all have exactly the same number of hours in a day.
Yes, we have to work but there are still some hours in the day which we ‘control’ – whether during meal breaks, transport rests, listening time, or moments of ‘free’ time. How we spend those times and what we concentrate on during our thinking time will have a great effect upon our outlook, our attitudes and our behaviour.
So, what do you spend your time thinking about? Yes, there are noble works of art, literature and music. Yes, it is good to increase our knowledge, especially so we become excellent or the best we can be at our calling, in our spiritual responsibility and at work. Yes, we do need relaxation, but we need to constantly check up on what we watch, read and think about. Are those things positive or negative? Do they build up or tear down? Are they ‘in tune’ with our values or do they compromise them?
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” Paul ends with what could be interpreted as an arrogant statement, but can I encourage you? We need to be able to say the same.
What have you taught? What have you given? What have you said or done that you would like others to put into practice?
Take a few moments to write down what you have seen in others that you would like to copy. Then spend time thanking God for those people.
Then spend a few moments writing down what you would like others to copy from you. Now determine to excel in those things and commit to adding to the list.
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