The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We could say these are character traits of our God.
In other words, you can be assured that as a good Father, God’s thoughts and actions toward you will always line up to these characteristics. So, in taking this understanding, and applying it to our thought life, we can begin to discern which thoughts are of or from God, and which are not.
For example, if you have a thought of discouragement, ask yourself, “Is this of love? Does this thought bring me joy or peace?” (and so on). If the answer is NO, then reject and dismiss that thought immediately. It’s not of God.
This same principle helps us in our media-driven world as well. The Apostle Paul gave us some powerful help in setting boundaries on the things we allow in our life. He said:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true [not fictitious], whatever things are noble [not scanty], whatever things are just [not unmerited], whatever things are pure [not tainted], whatever things are lovely [not repulsive or obnoxious], whatever things are of good report [not bad, poor, or useless information], if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8, my emphasis added).
There hasn’t been a generation before ours with more media influence, and this can be good and bad. Obviously not everything available on television, news, or the internet is bad, but sadly, most of what is available to watch and listen to is fictitious, scanty, unmerited, tainted, repulsive, obnoxious, and useless information.
CHOOSE WISELY.
Listen to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit and when He quickens you to change the channel or get off social media–it’s better to obey than to absorb destructive content. You’ll never get victory in your life (especially in your thought life) if you keep allowing junk in there too. And your good Father knows this.
I’ll share a story of another good father:
A dad of two teenagers was home one Saturday when they came to him asking if they could go to the movies with their friends. He had already heard some scanty reports about the movie, so he told them no. They were mad at his decision and tried to argue that there was only a little violence and nudity, and maybe only one or two cuss words, but the father stood his ground and wouldn’t allow them to go.
A couple of hours later, he called his teenagers into the kitchen. “I made some brownies for you.” The two momentarily forgot about being mad and reached for a brownie, but the dad said, “Wait just a second…” He went on to tell them how the brownies were not his usual recipe. He had added a special ingredient–not much, but just a little… dog poop. The teenagers pulled their hand back quickly and yelled, “Ewww! That’s gross Dad!” But he said, “Well, it wasn’t much really. I just added a little. Shouldn’t change it at all.”
Of course the teenagers TOTALLY disagreed. But the father went on to explain that’s why he didn’t want them seeing the movie. It might seem like the bad content wasn’t much and shouldn’t make a difference, but it’s still poop.
It seems (good) fathers always know best. But let this be a reminder to us all to guard what we consume and don’t be too quick to eat the brownies.
