The Fourth Wall - Day 4

Whatever is true.

Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

So, what should we add to our lives? The above list is probably a great place to start, but let's break that list down a bit more.

“Fix your thoughts on what is true. . .”

Do we even know what is true anymore? I actually think that we can. However, it is a bit harder than we think. I keep hearing people say, “Do your own research,” to mean that they are finding truth from their own sources. To be clear, using a different search engine does not mean “doing your own research.”

In my doctoral program, you don’t even begin to do your own research until you have done a literature review, which takes months and even years to understand what is being said about the topic. Then, you have to do abstracts for most of that writing to synthesize existing research. Then, you produce a thoughtful and thorough bibliography that shows you know the extent of the topic and the salient voices and that you have read, understood, and reviewed them. Then, you begin “your own research. . .” Short of doing this sort of thing, don’t say you have done “research” you have not.

So, how do you know what is true? First of all, we should be much more circumspect than we often are when it comes to what is really happening. We have to understand the media, what motivates each platform, and what are their end goals. You might want to ask yourself if listening to a 22-year-old making content from the front seat of his 2011 Honda Civic is really doing research, or if you are just being entertained or allowing for your bias to be fed into.

So start here: Scripture speaks of God, who God is, what God does, and the fruits of following Christ. Understanding the fruits of those you follow, their impact on the world, who they surround themselves with, and if they have a motive of God or not is important and possible. Also, don’t paint someone or something with such a wide brush that everything around it gets smeared along with it. Start with what we know to be true, and if you are wondering, get as close to the source as you can.

1. How do you find out what is true? 
2. How would you start to “do your own research?”
3. What can you know to be true about God and his will for your life?