Inspiring Phrases from 2 Peter: wholesome thinking

Inspiring Phrase: wholesome thinking

Context: 

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles. 2 Peter 3:1-2

My response:

I was brought up to believe that wholesome thinking was brought about by avoiding certain shows on TV, not listening to pop music and not swearing. Avoid the arts all together, that was essentially the message.

I’ve since learned that it isn’t that simple and it actually isn’t that at all. The Creator God inspires creativity. There are boundless expressions of God to be found in works of art, where individuals wrestle with the great questions of the human condition.

I have a bit of an issue with the word ‘wholesome’. In my head, it sounds a bit worthy and boring. I think that’s to do with my upbringing too. The second dictionary definition backs that up in part – ‘conducive to or characterised by moral well-being’…..moral, ethical, good, nice, clean, virtuous, pure, innocent, chaste…feels a bit goody-two-shoes, doesn’t it? Although ethical, yes, I get that. It is entirely right that we live with ethics at our core. I’ve learnt that from my husband – one of my earliest memories of him is his impassioned speech at the Upside Down Kingdom conference at Warwick University when we were students. So when he came to work for Traidcraft within ten years of us being married, it was no real surprise – and then he co-founded Ethical Superstore and stood in elections as the Green Party candidate. For him, ethical living is a practical reality. And he is far from worthy and boring!

The first dictionary definition of wholesome though is definitely bang on trend. It’s as if people are becoming aware of the importance of healthy living without any understanding that this is the way God always intended for human beings to live – conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being….healthy, health-giving, healthful, good, good for one, beneficial, sustaining, strengthening, nutritious, nourishing, full of nourishment, full of nutrients, nutritive, unrefined. Maybe if wholesome was replaced with holistic, it would be less off-putting, because wholesome thinking is about the whole of life – emotional, mental, spiritual and physical a holistic connection). In the contemporary search for well-being, we’re searching for the life in all its fullness that Jesus promised.

Peter encourages his readers to look to the words of the prophets and apostles like him for inspiration – basically our Old and New Testament. I was not brought up to believe in a holistic way of living that connected all aspects of human life into a perfect whole. All that mattered was the spiritual – the body was worldly and should be largely ignored. Wholesome thinking for me is not that. It’s taking seriously our role as stewards of God’s wonderful world as laid out in Genesis 1. It’s about living in community, embracing interdependence as set out in Leviticus. It’s about the right way of ruling and power as spoken about by Isaiah and the other prophets. And it’s about love, all about love in action, as shown by the life of Jesus.

Wholesome thinking embraces the whole of life, life in all its fullness liberally showered with love, love in all its fullness.

As Christians, we have an important message to bring in this world seeking for well-being. It’s up to us to live it, not just speak it: to make right choices about what we buy, what we eat, what we do etc – and not just about what we watch on TV at 10pm on a Saturday night.