Philippians 4:8 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.

Thoughts precede acts but not always.

There is a lot of negativity in motion these days. Put downs take a lot less energy than lifting up.

Paul gives us encouragement to control our thoughts in the hope that our actions will follow after righteousness. While following righteousness is a fitting lifestyle, doing it to receive praise is not. Praise be to God and God alone.

What objective evidence do we have that what we do glorifies God and God alone?

To answer that question we must ask ourselves if the question itself is valid. What is objective evidence? It is an object that provides evidence. A gun is fired and a man is killed. The bullet is retrieved from the body and ballistics matches the rifling on the gun with the bullet. That is objective evidence that the gun killed the man. The gun is guilty, guns are bad. No, that is a negative assertion since a gun cannot fire itself.

This is just an extreme example of negativity. More subtle and dangerous negative assertions are in play here. We are presenting the gospel of truth to a world that hears lies and has bought into those lies and does not know the truth.

• Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
• Romans 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
• Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
• Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

We are that object evidence that Godly thoughts lead to righteous acts and we know by history that those who are rooted and grounded in lies will object. Judging people puts them on the defensive, that is human nature.

Present the gospel of truth and let the truth speak for itself.