A Little Affirmation from a Really Smart Guy

Ok - so do you remember last week or so when I wrote about garbage?  I talked about how we tend to let a lot of junk into our hearts and minds with some strange expectation that it won't effect us.  My big thought was this:

What goes in must come out.

I kinda wrote about it twice. . . If you haven't checked out those posts you can find them here by clicking on the links:  What goes in must come out, and Daydreams and Prayers

Anyway, I was super excited the other day during my reading time when I stumbled upon a quote that almost perfectly expresses a very similar thought.

Here it is, from D.A. Carson's commentary on Philippians entitled "Basics for Believers,"

If you think holy thoughts, you will be holy; if you think garbage, you will be garbage.

Is it just me, or does everyone get a little giddy when a really, really smart theologian says something that affirms what we've said?

I know that D.A. Carson is not God.  He is not always right.  But I think he's probably right more often than me. . . Or, at least I think he could probably back up his thought processes with more specific bible verses and background information than I could.

So when the words of a guy like that affirm a girl like me, well, it feels pretty good.

It makes me think, hey - maybe I'm not so crazy after all!!

I should also add that Carson was expressing that thought in reference to a verse in Philippians that says this:

Finally, brothers and sisters, 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 do we want to fill our heads with true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy thoughts?

Because if you think holy thoughts, you will be holy, and if you think garbage, you will be garbage.

Because what goes in must come out.