Friday, February 19
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
A few of Paul’s writings can be seen as quite contentious and some are most thought provoking but nothing he wrote can, for me, compare to this passage of absolute perfection and truth. For me this exhortation mirror images the Great Commandment used every Sunday in our service:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
Our Lord was quite specific that he came to save sinners and commanded us to think of others before ourselves, to give up the selfish attitude and to be selfless. I can not think of any better way to achieve our Savior’s directive than to focus on the words expressed by Paul in Philippians 4:8 – “whatever is true, honorable, pure, lovely and praiseworthy ... think about these things.”
Our daily lives are filled with “what’s in it for me.” It is difficult to break the mold – indeed, there are forces of evil, way beyond human understanding, pressing us to live the supposedly easier route of sin – but deep down within all of us there is a tiny seed of Christian faith that can jolt us to the realization that Paul was right –
think about these things.
Have you thought about such things today?
John McGarvey