How to Use "The Lust Dare"
Day #20: Whatever is True.
“Finally brethren,
whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of
good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-
think on these things.” –Philippians 4:8
The biggest part of the struggle is
often in our minds. We can keep our eyes or our hands from straying, but our
thoughts will just not stay where we want them to, and they love to stray those
places that we are trying so hard to avoid? So what do we do?
Well, I have been told that in
order to truly get rid of something evil, we need to replace it with good. This
is even a biblical concept: Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.(Rom 12:21) The Bible does
not tell us to replace all that is evil, the lusts of the flesh, and the
temptations. It does not say “You have a problem, get rid of it right now.” No
it says much more than that. It tells us what to replace it with.
So what does the Bible tell us to
replace impure or sinful thoughts with? The answer to that is very clearly laid
out in Philippians 4:8. We are given a whole list of things to chose from:
truth, nobility, justice, purity, loveliness, good report, virtue, and praise.
These are all things that we can think on instead. And today I want to focus on
the first item on the list, and in the days ahead I will be daring you to look
at all the items on the list.
So we must think on whatever is
true. The original word used for this truth, the Greek word alethes, means a non-concealing truth. A
truth that tells all and does not hide anything. As my Mom used to always say
when I was trying to conceal something: “Tell me the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.” And as the financial advisor Dave Ramsey would say
“A 98% truth is still a lie.”
One Bible commentator by the name
of Alexander Maclaren had even a few more thoughts on this word, truth.
‘Whatsoever things are
true . . . think on these things.’ Let your minds be exercised, breathed,
braced, lifted, filled by bringing them into contact with truth, especially
with the highest of all truths, the truths affecting God and your relations to
Him. Why should you, like so many of us, be living amidst the small things of
daily life, the trifles that are here, and never coming into vital contact with
the greatest things of all, the truths about God and Christ, and what you have
to do with them, and what they have to do with you? ‘Whatsoever things are true
. . . think on these things.’
In replacement of those thoughts
and patterns of thought that we wish to banish from our head, we are called to
think on whatever is true; to think on the truth of God, and of us, His
creation, and how the two relate. We are called to think on the truth of
Christ, and his life and ministry here on earth. In thinking on such truths as
these, we are set free from sinful thoughts and the temptation to lust in our
minds.
“And you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.” –John 8:32
Today’s Dare
Start today to take every thought captive, and when you
recognize a thought that needs dismissal, immediately replace it with truth. Do
not just sit there and go “I’m not going to think on this, I am not going to
think on this.” Instead just begin to think on something else. Think on the
truth of God, Christ, and who we are in relation to them. Search the scripture
daily for truth that you can think and meditate on when your thoughts are
tempted to stray.
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