TIME TO THINK
‘Think on these things.’
Php_4:8
This age has been called an age of growth, and so in many ways it is—growth of empire, of commerce, of wealth, of population, and an improvement in physique.
But what of spiritual growth? There is a growth in organisations, in spiritual activities, in spiritual fuss, but this is only the scaffolding; the building itself grows but little. What is the remedy? We find it in the first word of our text, ‘Think.’
I. Get time to think.—It is more necessary than many realise; it is indeed absolutely necessary, for without time to think our spiritual life cannot grow. We hear too much of the voice of man. Get time to hear the voice of God.
II. Acquire the habit of thinking.—The mind quickly forms habits just as the body does, and if those habits are habits of idleness, or day-dreams, or vanity, the mind will soon become useless for thinking. Discipline your mind! Keep still and think. Think deeply, and so become deep. Think regularly, and so acquire the habit of thinking.
III. What shall we think?—It is a good thing to drive out wrong and impure thoughts from our hearts—we must do so; but unless we obtain good thoughts to fill their place the evil thoughts will return with sevenfold force. What, then, shall we think? ‘Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue, any praise, think on these things.’ That is the great remedy for our lack of spiritual growth. The scaffolding is here; let us build up the spiritual building.
Bishop A. N. Thomas.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE CULTURE OF THE IDEAL
One party in the modern Church might wish the Apostle to have said, Think on your baptism and your covenanted privileges; and another, Think on your conversion. What he actually says is, Think on all things beautiful and good.
I. Thus to write, in the capacity of a teacher of religion, was distinctively Christian.—How vital a thing it is, for the great majority of men and women, whose only abstract thinking is about religion, to have purity and goodness consecrated.
II. It is another mighty corrective (and it is required for the efficiency of the first) that we should learn to appraise aright all things true and beautiful. To do this will rebuke our greed, and calm our passions, and strengthen every noble impulse and desire.
III. This advice becomes a Christian teacher still more, because all such thinking leads up straight to the Cross of the Redeemer.—For in the same proportion in which inward things predominate over show and the senses and the world—self-control over appetite, self-sacrifice over indulgence—as purity and love become precious, and vileness more terrible than pain, so does the great life, the great sacrifice, the supernatural personality of Jesus our Lord become at once credible and splendid; and the visage that was more marred than that of any man is seen to be the fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely.
IV. One cannot think long upon such matters and continue indifferent to Him.—No; nor fail to confess the need of Him.
Bishop G. A. Chadwick.
Illustration
‘Wherever you discern moral obligation or moral charm, the Apostle says not, Do homage to this, nor even, Work this out in your external conduct, though he very certainly expects that both these results will follow. But rather he says, Let it sink in; take stock of it; reckon it up: let your intelligence play upon it—for such is the meaning of his expression. And this is the one thing which we most need to-day, a dominant interest in really high concerns.’