Finally, brothers, 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. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

Paul is wrapping up a letter to a group of people he loved. After talking about how Jesus lived and died and rose again out of love for us, he talked about how he, Paul, had rejected his credentials and status out of love for Jesus. He talked about being devoted to understanding following Jesus.

I read all that on Wednesday morning, thinking about commitment. And then I read Paul’s words quoted above. He’s talking about an intentional pursuit of worthwhile thinking. I started considering how to shape my thoughts, how to trim out what isn’t true, what isn’t noble. It’s actually not hard to identify what to think about.

I kept reading.

I read about Paul’s offer of his life as a model, both his teaching and his living. It seems arrogant, until we remember that Paul had been beaten in Philippi, whipped and bleeding. He had lived with them for a while. They knew him. The trusted him. They saw that he lived what he taught. So he could invite them to obey what he was obeying.

I was thinking about all this for me this week, and then for some of you. Some of you bought the Lent reader I put together. You are getting 7×7, an email of the Bible. You are getting this blog.

That’s too many words. That’s too much reflection. That’s too much me. With all that mail to read, it’s hard to put anything into practice.

What I’d like to suggest for some of you is that you subscribe to this Lent email which will come out once or twice a week, and UNsubscribe from 300. After Lent, come back. I’ll remind you. But instead of so much reading, concentrate on reflecting and doing.

The rest of us will still be here.