We’re Getting It All Wrong
“Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.” -Philippians 4:8
When I read this verse in my quiet time this morning (and when I say morning I mean 4:30am because I couldn’t sleep), it hit me… We’re getting it all wrong. Who am I referring to when I say “We’re”? All the voices that are so prevalent in our society today and all the people who are listening to them (aka: most of us).
I’ve been studying the book of Philippians for the past 6 weeks or so and it’s taken me up to this point to actually grasp a glimpse of what I believe God is trying to not only show me, but show us. We hear it all the time, “All you NEED is God” and “God speaks to us through His Word.” But what does that practically look like when you’re not sure if you can pay your bills next month? Or what does that mean when you’re anxious about all the “What ifs” in life?
First, it means you read His word, consistently. Yes, even on the days you don’t feel like it’s making sense. I’m so guilty of not doing this. I let other voices play louder and more consistently than the truth… No wonder I struggle with anxiety.
God is not stagnant and He is not silent, BUT are we really allowing ourselves to hear Him through all the noise? We are being fed what the world and society wants us to know, not what we need to know.
Philippians 4:8 says to think about things that are TRUE, NOBLE, RIGHT, PURE, LOVELY, and ADMIRABLE… What is all over the news, social media, and even our daily conversations?!? Skewed news (at least a large portion of it… Yes even Fox for my fellow conservative friends), dishonorable acts, things that are not right, impure, disgraceful, and things that are honestly flat out deplorable. All the opposite of what we are to be thinking/dwelling on.
But you might say, “Lori, we need to stand up for what is right! How can you see all this evil and say not to think about it?”
Yes, we need to be a voice, when God calls us to be, not when we just feel like it because we see something that enrages us.
Are you bringing the things that have caused you to post on your social media wall to the Lord first? Are you spending adequate time in prayer about them first? If you can’t answer yes to both of those questions, then you’ve got it all wrong.
I can only call this out because I was doing the same exact thing a couple months ago. Then I’d wonder why I was in such turmoil. There is peace that surpasses our understanding when we get the things in our mind and heart in submission to the only One who holds it all anyways. I can honestly say I feel more peace in just the fews weeks of changing what I’m seeing/dwelling on, yet I still have a long way to go.
If I haven’t convinced you yet, get this… Paul, the author of Philippians, had more reason to complain and dwell on evil than anyone in our modern society today. Please hear me say this, I am not downplaying whatever you have/are walking through or ignoring the fact that terrible things are happening in our country today, I’m just saying if anyone had reason to not have peace in his life, it was Paul. Yet, he lived content in the latter part of his life when he had plenty AND when he was in need BECAUSE he dwelled on the things God called him to, not on what he could see in front of him. Wow.
This next part I can’t take credit for, as I’m copying it directly out of Jennie Allen’s study, “Get Out Of Your Head”, but reading this list shocked me (and I grew up in church, knowing the overall life of Paul… so I thought). Though I knew Paul suffered, I didn’t realize the extent of his earthly sufferings…
“In the book of Acts alone, we read that Paul experienced:
Having his life threatened in Damascus (9:23)
Having his life threatened in Jerusalem (9:29)
Being run out of Antioch (13:50)
Possibly stoning at Iconium (14:5)
Stoning and being left for dead in Lystra (14:19)
Opposition and controversy (15:5)
The loss of Barnabas, his friend and co-laborer in the gospel (15:39)
Being beaten with rods and imprisoned (16:22-23)
Being cast out of Philippi (16:39)
Having his life threatened in Thessalonica (17:5-7)
Being forced out of Berea (17:13-14)
Being mocked in Athens (17:18, 32)
Being apprehended by a mob in Jerusalem (21:27-30)
Being arrested and detained by the Romans (22:24)
Being imprisoned for more than two years in Caesarea (23:33-27:2)
Being shipwrecked on the island of Malta (27:48-28:1)
A snakebite (28:3-5)
Being imprisoned in Rome (28:14-16)”
Yall, in our society today, too many of us would dwell on just one of these things happening to us (or someone else that we happened to witness through a short clip from a phone recording). Yet Paul does not spend his life dwelling on his unthinkable circumstances. How? He spent his time TRAINING his mind to think about what was TRUE, NOBLE, RIGHT, PURE, LOVELY, and ADMIRABLE… Did you catch that word I used? He TRAINED… It did not and does not come naturally for us to think about the better things. We are prone to remembering what is bad. Not only that, statistically 4 good encounters have to happen for us to naturally forget about 1 bad encounter with something.
I don’t think Paul would have chosen his circumstances and to be stuck unjustly in prison, but at the same time Paul had no idea the impact the letters he wrote while imprisoned would have. If Paul wasn’t stuck in prison, he likely wouldn’t have been compelled to write the very letters that would awaken my Spirit to write this post today.
You think God probably knew what He was doing when He kept Paul imprisoned? You think God could see how Paul’s words, inspired by the Spirit, would be some of the words that laid the foundation for how believers are to live today? Not only live and get by, but have a peaceful life in such an unpeaceful world…
Again, this takes training, it’s not going to come naturally, but I pray that we would take the path less traveled in order to experience peace that will lead to life.
