Thinking

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.


To be honest I've never thought much of this verse. I thought that nothing affected me truly that much.  I was offended by some music, so I didn't listen to it, that was about it.  But now that I think on it, there may be more to this verse than meets the eye. 


God always knows what He's talking about.  It's really quite amazing.  When it comes to sex on the screen, I've finally accepted the fact that it makes me think thoughts I shouldn't have.  The world truly is saturated with sex and while I do believe that it is natural and beautiful and all that great crap (when I say and all that great crap, it's my way of saying etc etc, just for further notice).  Let's face it, we don't need to think about sex as much as we do and I'm sure I would think about it less if I didn't have it right in front of me.  But I always thought that violence was never going to be a problem for me.  Well guess what. It is.  Not only am I more squeamish than I used to be, which I consider a good thing, violence just doesn't fit into my equation of life. 


I am taking Taekwondo. I love Taekwondo.  The confidence to move smoothly and powerfully, to be able to protect yourself and to discipline yourself is just wonderful.  Taekwondo does not make me want to be attacked or to attack someone.  Violent shows do not make me want to attack people, far from it.  However, they do make me paranoid.  For those who really know me you know that I have worked with OCD for quite a while. For the majority of the time it is under control. I am obviously not anorexic for fear of germs and immanent death, but older men scare me.  I can't sleep unless I know the front door is locked and the alarm is on or someone else is home.  If I am home alone, music or something must be playing. I am not saying that I shall begin trusting everyone I come across, let us not be ridiculous please.  But I am saying that the stuff we see DOES affect us, even if it's not in the obvious such as "That's a good idea, I'm going to kill someone" or "That looks like fun, let's go have sex".  


When God told us to think on these things, He meant for us to apply them to our lives.  When I think about what God has done for me, what I can do for other people, what I need to do that day or with my life, I am happy and I am content.  When I start focusing on the fictional crap that doesn't even have a moral point, I start to not have a moral point. I think "wait, what do I think about this?" but then get so sucked into getting entertained that I don't realize what's happening.  We need to constantly be checking our focus otherwise it will shift without us realizing what happened.  


I am not saying I have or will ever live up to these thoughts here.  But this is what I think I'm learning and it is something that finally makes sense to me.