Philippians 4:8
"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."
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Our character is shaped by our thoughts. Therefore, we must keep before us what is admirable - what it is that we strive to be. I used to meditate on such things. Now, often I find myself worrying about silly things or distracting myself with irrelevant thoughts. That's how I lose my way, my purpose. I'll add more later, as I think more on this.
what makes something excellent or worthy? what makes something disappointing or terrible? are these random phenomena or expected outcomes? we often think hard about the disappointing and terrible things in our lives and question God's intentions. and many times we use human logic to conclude that God has forsaken us. yet, as this verse suggests, if we think hard about the excellent and worthy things in our lives, to what conclusion can our human logic bring us then?
God has endowed us with the amazing gift of thought and encourages us to use that ability to better know and appreciate Him. by His grace, what an awesome privilege it is to be able to both fathom and savor all of the excellent and worthy things in our lives.
what is really so true, noble, right, pure,lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy in our life? Initially, these would be many things on this earth that appear to be appealing and good-looking in our eyes. But we have to think about what would please our father in heaven rather than being self-centered and thinking about our own-well being. The apostle Paul says in the following verse: "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." According to the word, the most true, noble, right, pure,lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy things in our life should be our discipleship in Christ (learn or receive the word and put it into practice). Many times, we struggle because we ourselves are the worst hindrance to living a life of discipleship. If we think about discipleship, we first tend to think about a boring, strenuous and tiring life. But the Scriptures tell us tothink of discipleship positively. Surely, there is nothing more true, noble, right, pure,lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy things than living a life of Christ's disciple.
Adding onto my earlier comments about thoughts shaping character -
I realize that our society no longer values being "noble" or "pure." Those values are actually kind of mocked now. Our media extols being rich or sexy, clever and ambitious, the ends justifying the means. I used to love reading books about being noble, having codes of honor. Why did this become uncool? Won Min, I agree that our sights should be set on Jesus Christ. I also think that by meditating on what it is to be "noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable" - our thoughts will help us to become more like Him. Rocky, you're right - we are blessed with the amazing gift of self-reflection. (I hadn't thought of that before). It sets us apart from God's other creations. It ties into free will. We were made in the image of God. We choose to either distort that image or clarify it by use of self-reflection - by choosing how we focus our thoughts. Amazing.
I'm totally with you Sue Jin!
This world/society definitely no longer values in being "noble" and especially "pure." Of course our media is usually run by the worldly people who receives the wrong influences. The world is pushing everyone to become more and more selfish... It is all about what I have or what I don't have...and so day by day the righteous traits are fading away.
We are like the fishes in this world and like them, we have to keep away the salt contents that we are constantly surrounded by in order to live. If not, we'll die and perish.
Like yesterday's QT verse,
“But our citizenship is in heaven.” We must be aware that we are not of this world but we came into it as citizens of heaven. And our true home is in heaven with our Lord.
I take this as an exhortation to remain pure and holy in a corrupt generation. At the same time I realize that the desire to remain pure and holy is not within me, as I see that I am a sinful and really really bad person. Yet we are called to deliberately strive to "think about such things." God commands what He wills, but He grants what He commands. I want to strive to fill my thoughts with excellent and lovely things. I also want to ask God for the movement of the Holy Spirit to fan the desire for such things.
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