May 27

We don’t realize it but we are daily bombarded with thoughts that are contrary to what we believe. It’s happened so consistently over our lifetime that we don’t take note of it anymore. Perhaps we were once pricked in our conscience by the offensive material that seeped into our lives, but not any more.

We turn on the television to see comedy programs that purport things that we consider to be sin as humorous. We pick up a ladies’ magazine and see images of provocative women seductively attired whose alluring gaze piques the interest of impressionable young men and the emulation of naïve young women.

The lifestyles of movie stars whose front-page headlines detail their illicit affairs and those of our neighbors whose immoral behavior is played out far closer to home assure us that everyone is doing it and it’s OK. To think we are not coarsened by this is self delusion. Yet, how can we counter such a blatant invasion of our minds and our sensibilities?

In Philippians 4:8 the Word tells us that our recourse is to ponder the lofty rather than the base. We shall overcome our proclivity to immerse ourselves in vain thoughts when we heed the admonition, “Whatsoever things are true, pure, honorable, lovely, of good report—if there be any virtue and there be any praise —think on these things.”