Think on these Things
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
(Philippians 4:8-9)
Throughout the day I think about how people perceive me, events in my friends’ lives, the smudges on my glasses, everything I need to do to keep my life in order, whatever music or podcast or video I’m currently playing, and a thousand other things. My guilty pleasure is a podcast called “Smosh Reads Reddit Stories.” It’s crass, it’s crazy, but it’s hilarious: the hosts (a rotating cast of professional comedians) read and discuss some of the most bizarre and embarrassing confessions on the internet.
But I wasn’t raised to listen to things like that: my mom was careful to show us only beautiful things, gradually exposing us to mature themes, but always aware of the power both of beauty and of ugliness. Now that I have full agency over what I consume, my caution has faltered, and that lack of caution leaks into my thoughts. I’m influenced by what I hear; I don't always take a critical approach to it. When I hear people condoning unforgiveness and elevating personal choice or comfort over consideration of others, sometimes it slips past my defenses and begins to rewrite the code in my brain. Those things, among thousands of other miniscule and weighty implications, become familiar, and then accepted.
Media content isn’t the only influence on my thoughts, of course. Like I said, I think about myself in the dead space that isn’t taken up by content, or the lives of others. It’s natural to do so; everyone has to think about themselves, in order to maintain their bodies and souls. But as I read and re-read this verse, Philippians 4:8, I wonder: Are my habits of thought disordered?
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise…” This is a rare Biblical command about what to think, not what to do. And I know, as a college student, much of my life is spent in my mind, and therefore this verse is all the more important to understand.
“Reddit Stories” has none of the attributes described in Philippians 4:8 -- right off the bat I am willing to dismiss it without a semblance of a defense. It’s clear that yes, there is some disorder in my choices of what to think about. If I am to obey St. Paul’s command, I should be more discerning in the things I watch and listen to. But what do the criteria mean? Should we cut out all explicit content from our lives entirely?
I don’t believe that’s what St. Paul is saying. I think that some Christians take this command, and others similar to it, and run too far in the direction of safety. Truth includes uncomfortable things: honor shines in the presence of dishonor; justice triumphs over real evil; purity, loveliness, excellence, and commendable acts shine bright against a darkness with which we are all familiar. The saccharine books and movies marketed towards Christians which shield the audience from all the impurity of real life do us an injustice. They feed us expectations which cannot prepare us to face evil. On the other hand, stories where honor and justice do not triumph also feed us a wrong view of the world. God is victorious over death, sin, and the devil. Though gritty and crass content is appealing because it is often better at imitating life than “pure” stories are, it also feeds us false expectations which erode our hope and our certainty of God’s victory. Let it be stated also that these generalizations apply not only to fiction, but to content which builds narratives around fact. Neither denial nor despair are healthy food for our thought. We should fill our minds with words, stories, and images which reflect the truth of the fallen world, and the truth of God’s triumph, keeping in mind St. Paul’s wonderful list of attributes.
Now we must address the self-centered, trivial thoughts. Am I true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise? Sometimes, maybe, but not enough to justify the amount of thought that I direct towards my personal appearance, frustrations, small dilemmas, the nature of my character, and my attempts to wrangle every aspect of my life-- schedule, social circle, career, etc.-- and shape it according to my will.
God promises to provide everything we need. Am I hungry? Life is more than food. Under-dressed? The body is more than clothing. Am I irritated? The feeling is almost never just. And I am being formed by those thoughts. This saying haunts me: Thoughts become actions, Actions become habits, Habits become your life. There are some habits which seem to skip the “action” stage and remain in the mind, but they of course seep out into our attitudes. Self-indulgent thoughts form us into self-indulgent people. God promises that it is not necessary to try and preserve ourselves constantly. His provision frees us up to think about better things.
St. Paul says: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” He is not bragging. He is a vessel, through which the light of God shines. To borrow from Karl Barth’s ideas, expressed in his commentary on Romans: precisely because Paul has surrendered himself entirely, and acknowledged his emptiness, he is filled with God’s good news.
It’s clear that our habits of thought should bend towards God more often: the only purity, truth, etc. which can ever fully satisfy. But practically speaking, we cannot always be pondering God’s nature. Or can we? We can certainly try. We can replace the incomplete narratives which we consume with truer ones, and we can silence our petty inward thoughts with repentance, which becomes a holy silence that God’s perfect love can fill.