Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Excellence”
Our Bible verse for today: “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise – dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Right thinking leads to excellence in character.”
In 1903 James Allen wrote a little book that has become a classic of Christian literature. The title of the book is “As a Man Thinketh” and it is based upon the verse in Proverbs 23:7 which reads in the King James Version: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
That verse expresses a basic truism of human nature – what’s in your heart determines who and what you are. In Matthew 12:34 Jesus expressed this same truth in a slightly different way: “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (NIV) In other words, what’s in your heart is who you truly are, and eventually that will be evidenced by what you say and do. Solomon also wrote of this in Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
The heart is the wellspring of life, the very essence of who you are as a person. In Biblical terms “the heart” is the center of a person’s inner personal life. It is the place where thoughts, feelings, and emotions come together to form personality and drive behavior.
All of this helps us to understand what Paul was getting at in Philippians 4:8. The mind feeds the heart. Along with the eyes and the ears, it is a gateway for influences that will ultimately end up in this place within you which the Bible refers to as your “heart”. So guard carefully what you allow into your mind because those things will go straight to your heart and ultimately will determine who you are as a person.
Here are a couple of quotes from James Allen’s book:
“As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.”
“A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts.”
Long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts … that’s what Paul was talking about in Philippians 4:8 – cherishing Godlike thoughts, filling our mind with them, dwelling on them, nurturing our heart with them. That then will help to develop a Godlike heart within us, and that in turn will be evident for all to see by the words that we speak and by the actions that we take.
An excellent character is a matter of the heart, and the heart is formed by the things we allow into our mind. Right thinking leads to excellence in character.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 