{"id":3443,"date":"2018-01-29T03:56:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T09:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?p=3443"},"modified":"2018-01-26T13:58:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T19:58:25","slug":"excellence-purity-good-think-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Think on these things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My Facebook screen is filled with darkness. <\/em><\/strong>And I bet yours is too.\u00a0What once was the home for pictures of children and puppies and motivational memes has now taken on a decidedly harsher tone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just social media. It\u2019s conversations at coffee shops and malls and churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cLock her up.\u201d \u201cLock him up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRacist!\u201d \u201cFascist!\u201d \u201cBigot!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c..And look at this shocking development!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you believe this one person did this one terrible thing?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHorror!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Is you start clicking and reading, you\u2019ll start to take on a cynical view of this world. You\u2019ll find that the skies will seem a little darker. You\u2019ll trust your neighbors a little less. Your idea of the future will be decidedly negative.<\/p>\n

The foreboding\u00a0stories that are presented seem to be more out of a Hitchcock movie than reality. Both sides are much better at painting the other side in ugly shades rather than presenting their vision of the future.<\/p>\n

I think if reality was anywhere near what we read, \u00a0there would be no hope. If all were really this grim, we should just draw the shades, gather together friends and family, and divvy up our meager cracker supply and wait out our days.<\/p>\n

But things aren\u2019t that bad.<\/strong> And regardless of who does what today, life will go on.<\/p>\n

These words from Philippians have never been more necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2014if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u201d\"sandhill<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

What fills your mind?<\/h3>\n

I\u00a0am struck by the last sentence: \u201cThink about such things<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

My thoughts and affections should be filled with much more than the troubles of this world.<\/p>\n

Yes there is grief. Yes there is sadness. Yes there is inequity, and hatred, and persecution. Yes there is hunger, and pain, and unfaithfulness. But\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink on these things.\u201d
\n\u2026 the truth
\n\u2026 the noble
\n\u2026 the right
\n\u2026 the pure
\n\u2026 the lovely
\n\u2026 the admirable<\/p>\n

Whatever is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the God of peace will be with you.\u201d
\n\"lake<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the things you see on Facebook today, this is the one read that might just give you hope. My thoughts and affections should be filled with much more than the troubles of this world. Yes there is grief. Yes there is sadness. Yes there is inequity, and hatred, and persecution. Yes there is hunger, and pain, and unfaithfulness. But….”think on these things”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1763,1260,1766,1764,1765],"class_list":["post-3443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-excellence","tag-peace","tag-phillipians","tag-purity","tag-think-on-these-things"],"yoast_head":"\nThink on these things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Of all the things on social media you'll read today, this might be the one thing that gives a little hope, that might help redirect your thoughts to good\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Think on these things\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the things on social media you'll read today, this might be the one thing that gives a little hope, that might help redirect your thoughts to good\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-29T09:56:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-26T19:58:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/files\/2018\/01\/IMG_0600-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/\",\"name\":\"Think on these things\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T09:56:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-26T19:58:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"Of all the things on social media you'll read today, this might be the one thing that gives a little hope, that might help redirect your thoughts to good\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/excellence-purity-good-think-things\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Think on these things\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. 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