“Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.” — Philippians 4:8
Right Thinking
I was helping coach a youth soccer team, and we were practicing passing. We were talking about the importance of the mind in both making and receiving a pass. “Your foot can only do what your mind tells it to do,” I said in my best coaching voice.
The connection between the practical game and spiritual applications became amazingly clear to me. How can we be doing the things God wants us to if we aren’t thinking about them? How can we do good and serve others and be examples of the love of Christ if we are consumed with thinking selfish, impure thoughts?
Also, thinking about where to pass the ball happens before we even have the ball in our possession. We have to be intentional about passing the ball. Most of the time, doing what is good and right does not happen on the spur of the moment. We envision passing the ball to another player, benefiting the team, so we do it because we have already made up our minds to do it.
We are called to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Living in that manner has to be done on purpose. There has to be forethought given to our actions that are to benefit “God’s team.”
— Tommy Young
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