These Eight Words Will Let You Know What Thoughts To Let Into Your Mind

I love the little glass peephole installed in our front doors, hotel room doors, etc.  It gives you a chance to “check out” your caller and either open the door…or run away!

We need a “peephole” in the “front door” of our minds!  It seems we just “throw the door open” to any and all thoughts that come calling. 

Philippians 4: 8 contains eight “filters” for what I should allow to come into my brain:

1. “Things that are TRUE”

You can’t believe everything today.  News stories, internet click bait and even videos can be fabricated.  

If you don’t know it is 100% true, don’t watch it.  If it contains any falsehood, exaggeration, or anything contrary to even one Bible verse, back away from the door. You can’t believe everything today.  News stories, internet click bait and even videos can be fabricated.

2. “Things that are NOBLE”

“Nobility” is supposed to reflect dignity, courtesy, manners and honor:  “a higher standard of living.”

Don’t drop your mind into the gutter.  The crass, low-life antics and vocabulary of even some “influencers” should immediately tell you, “Shut the door!”

3. “Things that are JUST”

Crime is king now.  If it is a murder, theft, or sexual crime it sells.  

Only open you mind to things that are “just,” right, legal, and above board.  Every time you see a wicked crime wanting access to your thoughts, “close the peephole!”

4. “Things that are PURE”

Lewd porn, videos and explicit content can “cut a groove” in your brain that only the grace of God can remove.

Would you let someone back up a garbage truck and dump it on your front yard?  “Lock the gate!”

5. “Things that are LOVELY”

Every year during Halloween, people compete to see how ugly and grotesque they can make their front yards!  Ghouls, goblins, graffiti, and junkyards do not “lift” your mind.

Feast your mind on images of beauty, mountains, streams, beaches and sunsets.  Satan is a destroyer and loves your mind to wallow with him in his filth.

6. “Things that are of a GOOD REPORT”

Can there be more bad news?  Another war, car wreck, conflict and division.  One headline can rattle in your mind for days.

Find some “good news”:  stories that motivate, endings that warm your heart, testimonies of those who conquered impossibilities.  My mind deserves better than a diet of depression.

7. “Things that are EXCELLENT”

I love to play golf just to look at the courses!  The manicured greens and fairways take hours a day to maintain.  It lifts my mind to see excellent work.

Anybody can produce something sloppy and average.  Put your mind in environments where excellent chefs, builders, and musicians have honed their craft to a fine edge.

8. “Things that are WORTHY OF PRAISE”

This is a great way to end:  “anything that you want to brag on, be proud of, and compliment that someone else has done.”

If you are ashamed of something you saw or heard or are embarrassed to repeat it to others, “you had no business letting it into the door!”

Let’s start “keeping the door locked.” Let’s put our minds on heavenly things.  You’ll find your mind will stay much happier…and healthier!