Stinking Thinking
He was not just a senior citizen; he was a grouchy senior citizen. He was known for his negative views about nearly everything in life. One day, as he dozed off in his big chair the children in the house, decided to risk a little prank on him. While he slept they put Limburger cheese on his mustache. When he awoke he took a big whiff of the smelly cheese, looked around, and shouted, “This room stinks!” He walked into another room, took another big whiff and said, “This room stinks too.” He meandered through the house and found the same odor in every room. Finally, he went outside, took another sniff and shouted, “The whole world stinks!”
In my life I have met several of the “The-whole-world-stinks” people. Everything that happens in their life causes them to see the negative side of things. To them, the whole world stinks. One common trait of all of them is that they are not happy. From time to time they find a moment of happiness, but it is soon driven out by the negative bend they have toward life.
In urging us not to be like that, Paul told the Corinthians, “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5). In Phil. 4:8, Paul shows us how to do this.
“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.””
You can “take every thought captive” by focusing your thinking on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable,”” then you have the result promised in Phil. 4:9, “The God of peace will be with you.”
Those who follow this simple principle will be letting “this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5) and find their lives filled with joy. They will also find that others enjoy being around them more.
~Lonnie Davis