FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005,10:20 p.m.
Whatever!
I was in the Christian bookstore today and saw a Bible cover with the word "Whatever" sprawled across it. Thinking it was a little strange, I looked closer, and realized that it is a play on the scripture found in Philippians 4:8:
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
True.
Honourable (Noble).
Right.
Pure.
Lovely.
Of good repute (Admirable).
Excellent.
Worthy of praise.
Dwell on things that are described this way. Seems a pretty simple concept, though I must admit I often find myself thinking about other things, whatever they may be. One of my teens said recently in a Bible study she was teaching, "Whatever you focus on, that's what you'll move toward." I thought that was profound. (I still do!) It's true that the Bible study was actually talking about temptations, but I believe the concept holds true here.
If we focus on the blessings, the beauty of Christ, the faithfulness of God, the character of Jesus - we will move towards these things. If we continue to focus on the struggles, the feelings of defeat, the envy of what others have that we don't have but want, and the feelings of powerlessness in this spiritual war in which we find ourselves, that is what we will move towards and focus our lives upon.
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." May our minds be so renewed by dwelling on the things that are true, honourable, right, pure, lovely and of good repute, excellent, worthy of praise - in short, everything that is displayed in the character and person of Jesus - that we cannot help moving towards them.
Let the focus on the bad or difficult things in life go - instead cling to the beauties of Jesus and let your own life and character be completely transformed by focusing on the amazing truth of who He is.
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
True.
Honourable (Noble).
Right.
Pure.
Lovely.
Of good repute (Admirable).
Excellent.
Worthy of praise.
Dwell on things that are described this way. Seems a pretty simple concept, though I must admit I often find myself thinking about other things, whatever they may be. One of my teens said recently in a Bible study she was teaching, "Whatever you focus on, that's what you'll move toward." I thought that was profound. (I still do!) It's true that the Bible study was actually talking about temptations, but I believe the concept holds true here.
If we focus on the blessings, the beauty of Christ, the faithfulness of God, the character of Jesus - we will move towards these things. If we continue to focus on the struggles, the feelings of defeat, the envy of what others have that we don't have but want, and the feelings of powerlessness in this spiritual war in which we find ourselves, that is what we will move towards and focus our lives upon.
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." May our minds be so renewed by dwelling on the things that are true, honourable, right, pure, lovely and of good repute, excellent, worthy of praise - in short, everything that is displayed in the character and person of Jesus - that we cannot help moving towards them.
Let the focus on the bad or difficult things in life go - instead cling to the beauties of Jesus and let your own life and character be completely transformed by focusing on the amazing truth of who He is.
