Read
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.
Philippians 4:8
Reflect
Ethan was hungry, and the only thing he could think about was chocolate cake.
He had made one before, so he knew the basic idea. He just wasn’t sure if he had all the necessary ingredients. Still, he was hungry, and a trip to the store felt like too much trouble. So instead of following a recipe, he decided to wing it with whatever he could find around the house.
First came the flour. He did not have wheat flour, but he did have corn flour, and flour is flour, right?
Then came the sugar. There was no regular sugar, but he had powdered sugar and brown sugar, so he combined those and hoped for the best.
Next came the cocoa. The more he thought about it, chocolate was rich, and peanut butter was rich, so he replaced the cocoa with a full cup of peanut butter. He did not have baking powder, so he doubled up on baking soda and threw in some yeast for good measure. He also did not have milk, but yogurt is dairy, so that went into the bowl. Olive oil took the place of vegetable oil.
Then came the eggs.
They had been sitting on the counter for a week, but he needed eggs to complete the recipe, and they were probably fine.
After he mixed everything together, the batter looked odd. It smelled odd. It moved oddly. But he was hungry, and surely the oven would work some kind of magic.
It did not.
When the cake came out, it looked nothing like chocolate cake. It was molten and gooey in some places, dense and crusty in others, and it mostly tasted like rotten peanut garbage.
Ethan was mystified.
What had gone wrong?
The answer, of course, was everything.
He had wanted the result of a good recipe without using the ingredients that made the recipe good.
Our lives work much the same way. We cannot keep stirring the wrong things into our hearts and minds and then act surprised when the result is a mess. If we fill our thoughts with resentment, cynicism, impurity, dishonesty, ugliness, gossip, envy, constant outrage and a steady stream of spiritual junk food, we should not be shocked when our hearts become polluted.
Why should we be surprised when we put mental and spiritual garbage into the mixture and end up with a molten, gooey mental and spiritual mess?
Paul gives us a better recipe in Philippians 4. He tells us to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise. These are not random decorations sprinkled on top of the Christian life. They are the ingredients of a healthy mind and a healthy soul.
That does not mean we pretend ugly things do not exist. Christians are not called to live with our heads in the mixing bowl. We still face sin, grief, conflict, injustice, disappointment and ordinary daily frustration. But we are not supposed to marinate in those things. We are not supposed to feed on them. We are not supposed to make them the main ingredients of our lives.
What we put into our minds matters.
What we choose to dwell on matters.
What we return to again and again matters.
Today, pray that the Lord will help you train your thoughts on the things He esteems. Ask Him to show you the rotten ingredients you have allowed into your heart and to replace them with what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy.
(And if you’re hungry for an actual chocolate cake, this is a great recipe to try. And no, it didn’t come from Ethan.)
Enjoyed this? Subscribe and get future reflections, bourbon notes, and assorted nonsense delivered straight to your inbox.
Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
