What are you thinking about? That's a question I've been asking myself more and more these past few weeks. I'm starting to realise that our "thought life", as some people call it, is really important. And it's also something that we have some measure of control over. We're able to change the narrative and the internal dialogue of our thoughts by changing what we set our minds upon.
An example. Have you ever watched a movie that sticks with you - that you're still thinking about days, or weeks, later? I know I have. Sometimes I re-run the plot in my mind, thinking about how it all played out. Some movies I enjoy so much that I start telling everyone about it, and spend hours watching analysis videos on YouTube of how it was made (or maybe that's just my inner film student geek coming out...). Either way, if I hadn't watched the film, I wouldn't be thinking about it.
I think this is a key to changing our thought patterns. What goes in affects what comes out. On a recent live-stream with my friend Mark Barlow from Isla Vista Worship, he described this as being like a sponge. If you soak a sponge in water, you can take it out, but when you squeeze it, the water will be what comes out. So it leads us to think, what are we soaking in? What sources are we drawing from? What are we watching, reading and listening to?
Now, I'm not saying you need to throw out your TV and start setting your music collection on fire. But I am saying that this an area that we actually have the freedom of choice in. And it's an important choice. Dallas Willard puts it this way.
“The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will let our minds dwell upon.”
I love that. We have the power to select what we will let our minds dwell upon. We have choices to make all the time. There is so much out there to take in, we'll never be able to read every book, hear every song, watch every movie or video. It's actually physically impossible. Did you know that every day, 2000 hours of new music is uploaded to Spotify? That's 83 days of music, released every day. YouTube is even more wild. 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Good luck trying to watch all of those! With so much out there, every single thing we take in, is a choice. It turns out, the Bible has some advice on those choices.
"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.
Why is it important what we think about? Well, our thoughts affect so many parts of our life. Our thoughts affect the way we feel, which can also affect the way we act, the decisions we make. And when it comes to our faith - our thoughts of God are hugely important. A.W. Tozer puts it this way.
“A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”
Photo by Chad Greiter on Unsplash.
That's big! Having a right understanding of God is foundational to the way we worship, and the way we live our life. So, why am I sharing about this on the Set Sail website? A ministry aimed at equipping christian artists and creators? Well, later in the chapter of Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard, which I quoted from earlier, he lays out some suggestions for how we can go about changing the way we think. One of his points - christian art.
He lays out that spending time taking in beautiful christian art is a hugely powerful thing, because it causes us to think about God. Done well, it can reveal the very character and nature of God, and give us something true, noble, pure, lovely and praiseworthy to think upon. We have this immense privilege of being able to create something which can point people to the Creator. To point beyond ourselves, to search out the depths of the knowledge of God in his word, and to declare that truth in a beautiful, creative, artistic way. To create something that moves people, that causes their minds to dwell upon truth. To maybe even reveal something of the nature of God that they didn't know before. And that in turn, as Tozer points out, can become foundational to their theology, their worship, and the way they live. It's an immense privilege that we have. And it’s also why it’s important that the things we create are coming from a place of biblical truth, aligning with God's word.
Photo by Sebastian Kurpiel on Unsplash.
So I would encourage the artists and creators out there: push out into the water and set sail into the knowledge of God. Go deep in the Word of God and discover more of his character and nature. Let the truth of who Jesus is move you and stir something in you that causes a beautiful, creative expression to rise up. And then create! Make something that will reveal that truth you've discovered to even more people, so that together we come into a greater understanding and revelation of God. That we would have more beautiful things to think about and let our mind dwell upon.
People will often watch whatever is shown to them without a better alternative. We can point at immoral lyrics in pop songs, or Netflix shows with controversial themes, and we can blame the issues of culture on those things. Or we can spend our time creating something beautiful and true. As I was reading this morning in Psalm 4: "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.". We have this beautiful joy of knowing Jesus. Let's create and share that joy with others.
