“Thinking on what is true leads to compassion and love for others.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – September 23, 2025
Whatsoever things are true… think on these things. Philippians 4:8
The Apostle Paul’s guide for the Christian’s thought-life in Philippians is fodder enough to fill volumes of commentaries. But let’s home in on the first attribute of a worthy thought – whatsoever things are true – and consider how this applies specifically to our relationships.
If you are being quite honest, how often in your day-to-day interactions with other people do your thoughts inadvertently turn to making judgments? Perhaps it’s not even judgments of a condemning kind. Maybe it’s something as simple and seemingly harmless as assuming where the other person is coming from or what that person believes, thinks, or feels about you.
So often in my own experience, my mind is so concerned with others’ perceptions of me, that I jump to all kinds of negative conclusions and then cycle them around in my thoughts far too long afterwards. Are you ever haunted by thoughts like these? She left so quickly, I’m sure she doesn’t really like me; or, All those people in my book club now think I’m uneducated and look down on me because of that comment I made; or, He seemed distant when we spoke earlier. He must be angry with me. Each of these thoughts has one thing in common: not one is based on truth. They are assumptions, thoughts filtered through my own self-consciousness. Add to the problem text and email communication, which lend themselves to false conclusions about others’ meanings and motives, and we find ourselves in a minefield of assumptions about one another.
Consider the damage that’s done to our relationships when we don’t take these false thoughts captive. Not only do we get caught up in self, but we fail to give others the benefit of the doubt. In other words, when we think falsely about others, we fail to love them; for, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “Love rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things.”
This week, try examining your thoughts about the people you interact with. Set a guard at the gate of your mind, and when an assumption about that person tries to creep in, turn the thought away. But don’t stop at not thinking false things. Open the gates wide to the truth: that individual, whatever he or she may think of you, is made in the image of your Father in Heaven and is dearly loved by him. Imagine how filtering every interaction through that truth might revolutionize your relationships!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive me for the countless times I’ve thought falsely about others and cared more about their perception of me than their value to you. Help me by your Spirit to take my thoughts captive and think only on what is true, rejoicing in the truth of your love for those you place in my life.
Application
Take false thoughts and assumptions about others captive and replace them with what is true.
Related Reading
1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Philippians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 2:5; Ephesians 4:25
Worship Resource
The N Crew: May the Mind of Christ My Saviour
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