Base Hits

Ready:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. 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.” Philippians 4:8 NLT

Set:

Our thoughts and our habits are something that we feed on. My dad always told me growing up, “Whatever you feed on, grows!” I had a horrible practice during a little league season. I pulled my shoulder and kept taking my eye off the ball when I swung. My dad taught me to bite my jersey in the sleeve, and it will force me to keep my head down. I did that for a few weeks, and finally, it became natural to keep my eye on the ball and drive it through the 5-6 hole for base hits. I kept my eye on the ball until it became natural to do it every time. 

Paul is encouraging us here to acquire a taste for godly thinking. He challenges us to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise. This ultimately becomes a filter and helps us to have Godly thinking and walk in His ways. How we think determines how we will live. 

We get exposed to a lot of things through social media, movies or what we stream, and it manifests itself in how we live. We can’t allow distractions to come in while we stand in the batter’s box of life. The pitches are coming, and we need to keep our eyes on Christ and not lose focus on crushing every single day through the infield for a base hit. 

Go:

• What are some things that you are allowing in your mind you might need to eliminate?
• Identify some good examples of things that are pure, admirable or so on.
• What are some practical ways that you can focus on those things?

Weekly Challenges:

• Write down some things that are distracting you at the plate while you try to focus on Jesus. 
• Before you do your readings this week, take a few minutes and pray for God to speak to you and keep you focused on His Word.

Reading Plan: 

Day 15 - Philippians 3-4

Day 16 - Galatians 1-2

Day 17 - Galatians 3-4

Day 18 - Galatians 5-6

Day 19 - Luke 1-2

Day 20 - Luke 3-4

Day 21 - Luke 5-7