What do you keep?
Today’s Verse
‘Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.’
Devotional
Picture a conveyor belt moving in front of you with small rocks on it. The rocks just keep moving by. Some are pretty. Some are rough and ugly. Some are plain and nondescript. And they just keep going by you, in what seems like an endless procession.
Now you have some decisions to make. You are allowed to pick up and keep a few of these stones. You may only keep a few, as many as you can hold in your hands. You have no bag, no pockets, nowhere to keep your chosen rocks except in your hands.
So you began to look at the conveyor belt with a little more interest. Which rocks do you choose? Naturally, you are drawn to the ones in which you find some beauty. Maybe there is one that is shiny. Maybe one is colorful. Maybe one is so perfectly smooth that it draws your attention. You get to pick. And only your impression of beauty matters here. There is no one around to tell you that you made a bad choice.
Somehow, though, the ugly stones draw your attention. There are ones that are badly misshapen. Some are rough and irritate your skin as they go by. Some are jagged and actually painful to touch.
You must choose which stones to keep. Which ones will it be?
It makes obvious sense that you would choose beautiful or special stones in this scenario. But is that what we really do?
The conveyor belt is your life. The stones are the events of your day, both your actions and your thoughts, as well as the words and actions of others. Which ones do you keep and look at again?
When you get to the end of your day, what do you remember about the day? The beautiful things or the ugly, irritating and painful things? To which do you cling?
Both the bad stones and the beautiful stones are naturally part of every person’s life. My belief is that each person’s outlook on life is based on which stones he keeps.
Today, I will choose to keep only beautiful stones. As the ugly stones come by, I will acknowledge them and let them go. I will not keep them. I will not let them define me. I will not allow them to shape my attitude.
What I behold is what I become. What I choose to focus on increases. Today I will choose to look at the beauty in this world and in my life and allow that to become my focus. Perhaps my thoughts about such things will help to shape my God-given identity.
As I have been reading, studying, and writing about my identity on Christ, it has become clear to me that many times I choose to see all of the declarations in the Word about who God says I am and allow them to pass right on by. God’s Word has some “beautiful stones” in it. It’s full of them. But I have spent too much of my life not picking up these beautiful stones. I haven’t picked them up. I haven’t memorized them. I haven’t meditated on them. I haven’t cried out to God to help me to believe these truths. I have let them pass by on the conveyor belt of my spiritual life without picking them up. In order to change that, I have begun writing the identity verses on notecards. I have re-started the practice of meditation. And even since I have started trying to embrace these verses, I have failed. Today I know that I am not defined by my failures. But I still need so much practice to take the action required to pick up and embrace the truth of who God says that I am.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
When you get to the end of your day, what do you remember about your day?
How can you choose to focus on and remember the beautiful things about each day?
Look today for things that are true, honorable, right, pure, admirable, lovely and praiseworthy. Write them down.
How does choosing what you remember affect your outlook?
Get a notecard and write down the verse from the last few days that is the hardest for you to believe about who God says you are. Read it often. Memorize it if you can. Write out a prayer to God asking for His help for you to believe and embrace this truth.