Noble Thinking

I thought it might be fun to work through each of the virtues we looked over in Philippians 4:8 one at a time.

Last time we talked about "whatever things are true". Today we'll turn our attention to "whatever things are noble".

In Greek noble looks like this: venerable, worthy of reverence.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines noble this way:
NO'BLE, a.
1. Great; elevated; dignified; being above every thing that can dishonor reputation; as a noble mind; a noble courage; noble deeds of valor; 8. Ingenuous; candid; of an excellent disposition; ready to receive truth.

I don't know about you but the word noble reminds me of knights and fair maidens... almost like a fairytale word... you know the knight rides up on his noble steed and saves the day! Let's have some fun with that word picture. Noble thoughts will be the knight, the damsel in distress will be our minds, and our ignoble thoughts will be the villain.

In a small village outside of a great kingdom, a villain (ignoble thoughts) takes a fair maiden
(mind) captive and hides her away in a lonely castle tower. The maiden cannot see how she will ever get free as she ponders the wickedness of the villain. These thoughts begin to cause her great distress draining her of any hope. In the distance there is the faint sound of hoof beats. At first she does not give thought to the sound, she continues to wrestle with her fearful thoughts. But soon the sound is much closer and coming very rapidly so she looks out the window to see what it might be. Lo and behold it is a knight on a beautiful horse coming to rescue her! Oh how her thoughts turn from hopelessness to hope, from fear to courage, from a focus on captivity to a focus on freedom. As she is rescued from her prison, the damsel (mind) is overcome with thankfulness and awe at the unexpected change in her situation that she could not dream of yet has experienced. The knight (noble thoughts) takes her to safety within the walls of the great kingdom.

The knight's appearing changed the maiden's perspective and chased away the fear, distress, and hopelessness she was drowning in. As we turn our thoughts to noble things, things worthy of reverence and worship, we will begin to have victory over thoughts that are fearful, hopeless, defeating, and distressing. Noble thoughts are those that are focused on our Redeemer, the One Who rescued us from our captivity and transferred us into His kingdom. Ride on to victory fair maidens!