APT Thought Process

UV 703/10,000 APT Thought Process “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.” Philippians 4 v 8 Often we think that St Paul is asking us to think of the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy in the abstract. No, he is asking us to think of the practical aspects of these qualities working in our own lives or what we have experienced in the past. He is asking us to reinforce whatever is true in our lives, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy in our own experience of life. These are the enabling and ennobling moments in our lives when the Lord in His grace enabled us to experience the sublime and the spiritual in our own lives. Over a period of time our thoughts become attitudes. When we saturate our minds with the Word of God which is nothing but the mind of Christ or the thoughts of God, we place ourselves in the trajectory of an automatic positive thought (APT) process. St Paul does not want us to think in a mere abstract, impersonal or theoretical manner. He wants us to have ownership over the image that God has created us in. Our greatest tribute or adoration of our beloved Creator and Redeemer is to present the best aspects of our selves to Him. We need to recall or summon those memories of whatever is noble and excellent in our lives so far. He wants us to think or meditate continually on these qualities so that these become ingrained in us, so that the habits that reflect these qualities in our lives are established, so that we are consistent in living according to these best principles of our lives. This uni-verse does not mean that we only think positive and do not even consider the negative. The enemy would be pleased if we did that. Instead, we need to identify the roots of the opposite qualities, thoughts and actions and deweed these out of our minds and lives. If we do not do so, the weeds of negativity like bitterness, wickedness, impurity, lust, selfishness, greed, folly, falsehood, mediocrity will proliferate in the backyard of our minds and overrun the garden. When we live in accordance with this teaching, our lives itself will become a thank offering to the Lord. Thinking continually on these lines will lead to actions and those actions when repeated over a fairly long period will become our habit and lifestyle. The only model St Paul exhorts us to always keep in mind is Jesus Himself for He personified whatever is true, noble, right, pure, admirable, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy. We need to ask ourselves constantly, “ What would Jesus think? What did Jesus say? What would Jesus say in this situation? How would Jesus act and react in this situation? What would Jesus do?” As true and faithful followers, we need to constantly align ourselves with the responses to these questions. When we invite Jesus into our hearts, the true, noble, righteous, pure, admirable, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy gain entrance into our lives. In due time, these will become manifest in our lives in a variety of ways even as there are a variety of flowers and fruits that grow on the planet. Prateep V Philip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCyE3kgnjak