The Gift Of Thought

“Philippians 2:5 tells us that we are to have the mind of Christ. This verse is part of a poem (Phil. 2:5–11) that was originally a hymn.1 This verse says that we are to think like Jesus thinks. In the original Greek, the command is in the form of the verb phroneite, the plural imperative of the verb phroneo, “to think or to be minded in a certain way.” Our mind is to have the same characteristics that Christ’s mind has.”

In some ways humans are inferior to animals.  I have seen some incredibly strong men, but never one “as strong as an ox.”  Men can run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, but that doesn’t begin to compare with the speed of a cheetah.  There are people who have an uncanny sense of direction, but even they can’t explain how migrating swallows can return unerringly to the same place year after year.

        Yes, some animals are intelligent, but none of them can think as we can.  No animal could ever have developed today’s amazing society with all its medical and technological advances.

        A human’s unique ability to think enables him to have thoughts about God and eternity.  The famous American poet Walt Whitman found this to be troubling.  He said that he often envied the cattle that graze contentedly in a meadow, because they never worry or dwell on troublesome thoughts.

        As Christians, we know that the ability to think is a God-given gift.  But sad to say, we can misuse it by entertaining thoughts that are vulgar, foul, and mean.  Paul told us to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, and of good report (Phil. 4:8).

Lord, help us to discipline our thoughts. Pastor Larry

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