"Meet me in the church, we're gonna pray. Anywhere you meet me guarantee we're gonna pray"

Some of my friends and I have this habit of changing the words in songs on the radio so that they no longer refer to bad things. I don't know how this practice originated, but it's a pretty fun road trip game. Songs become about marriage, baptism, bible study, or the holy spirit instead of fornication, gang violence, clubbing, or doing drugs. I always thought this was just a fun little thing that we did, but recently I thought of some important lessons that I could draw from this practice. I want to share them with you here:

1. We have to put effort forward to think about good things. In Philippians 4:8 we are encouraged: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." But it's not as if the world is just tripping over itself to offer us wholesome things to think about. I believe in monitoring what we subject ourselves to, but sometimes we are going to just have to make the best of things that we can't avoid. I want to return for a moment to the example about songs on the radio. The other day as I was driving to school that song "Dead and Gone" by TI came on the radio. Now I'm pretty certain this song teaches terrible messages, but it was just playing in the background (on the radio station that wasn't playing commercials) while I thought of other things. Suddenly, however, the song came into the forefront of my mind as I heard these lyrics: Oh hey, I've been travelin' on this road too long Just tryin' to find my way back home But the old me's dead and gone Dead and gone... In an otherwise completely unwholesome song, there were messages about repentance and striving for home that could easily apply to the Christian walk. That's when I thought to myself "I need to be looking for these sorts of things!" This brings me to my next point.
2. As Christians, we should strive to make everything in our lives about God and Christ Jesus (because it is). This isn't always manifested directly, as it is when you change the words in songs to be about scriptural things. I'm not saying that you should make eating your morning cereal "about" Christ (although if you could think about Christ through eating cereal I think that's great, the more time we spend "thinking on these things," the better), but in some ways everything we do and every situation we encounter is connected to Christ and our Christian faith. I think about Titus 2. In this chapter, Paul tells the brethren how they are supposed to act, and gives them a rationale that explains why they should act this way. I especially like the way the NIV reads about slaves (9-10) "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." The way they do their jobs is intended to show the greatness of God and the goodness of his revelation. I don't think we should be ignorant of that. Every situation we are in should show shows other people something about God whether or not we are aware of it. So, let's be aware. We need to be asking ourselves things like "How can I best reflect Christ in this situation?" and "How does this relate to my walk as a Christian, to the Bible, or to moral principles?" I think a good way to train ourselves to think that way and act that way (as I've mentioned above) is to make things about God. Let's relate things on the radio to the bible, things on the news to God, and the things we learn in school to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

 
It's time for us to "make the best use of the time" (Eph 5:16). Let's put effort into thinking about the goodness of God, his law, and his love for us in all circumstances so that we may glorify Him.