How much do you entertain guests?
For some people entertaining is an art. Their ability to make people feel at home, as well as feel like special guests, is amazing. I know some people who always seem to be entertaining. Their home has a revolving door of guests.
Entertaining can take on myriad forms. Some people are more comfortable with hosting smaller more intimate gatherings of people – perhaps another couple or two at the most. Other people seem to believe “the more the merrier” is the order of the day and, therefore, their gatherings are more like large scale parties.
There are often a number of key components to any entertaining: good people, good food, good beverages, good conversation, good music, and good décor often combine for good times. You can feel the energy upon arriving at a gathering when the host opens the door, you hear the music and the cacophony of lively laughter and conversations taking place, smell the delightful aromas of delicious food and beverages, and begin to drink in the visual array of special lights, candles and decorations that may adorn the house.
I believe great entertaining is all about “blessing” people and not about “impressing” people. Sadly, for some people entertaining is more about trying to impress people than simply about caring for and enjoying people. We can entertain people for a variety of reasons – some that bear good fruit, and some that bear bad fruit.
Entertaining is simply about hosting guests in a delightful and delicious way. It’s about spending time with and taking care of people.
In the same way we entertain people we also entertain thoughts. In fact, we are far more prolific and generous entertainers of thought than we are entertainers of people. Every waking moment of every day we are entertaining thoughts.
I believe we are, and we become, what we think on. Our thoughts influence and determine what we believe, and what we believe determines how we do life.
“Metacognition” is an understanding and awareness of what you think about. It’s really thinking about your thinking, or being aware of your thoughts. Metacognition is critically important for us to be able to make the appropriate thought choices to believe the Truth and not be ensnared by lies.
How are your metacognition skills? Are you aware of the kind of thoughts you entertain?
Jesus asked some Pharisees an interesting question, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
So what constitutes “evil thoughts”?
I would like to suggest that an evil thought is any thought that doesn’t align with the truth. Any thoughts that don’t align with the heart of God are evil thoughts. That could be thoughts of lust, jealousy, revenge, resentment, bitterness, hatred and unforgiveness, as well as thoughts of discouragement, despair and loneliness – including thoughts about your own lack of worth, or about God’s lack of interest, and love for you.
We have to be aware of when we’re entertaining these kinds of “evil thoughts” and kick them out of our minds. Those are not the kinds of guests we want roaming around our hearts and minds.
Would you keep entertaining guests in your home who started trashing the place? Absolutely not! If guests you were entertaining started throwing garbage around, smashing treasured possessions and generally causing havoc you would get them out of the house ASAP – perhaps even calling on the authority of the police to evict them!
We need to have the same attitude toward the thoughts we entertain. We need to be aware when we begin to entertain “evil thoughts” that are trashing our peace, hope, faith, strength, encouragement, commitment, care and the like, and kick them out – stop entertaining them!
We need to be very discerning in regard to the kind of thoughts we entertain. Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy is what we need to be thinking about. We have authority over what we think about. We need to be aware of what thoughts we’re entertaining and kick them out if they’re not in line with the truth.
Let’s think about our thoughts and ensure we are entertaining good thoughts.
What thoughts are you entertaining?
Matthew 9:4
“Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, ‘Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?’”
Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
2 Corinthians 10:5
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”