Philippians 4:4-9
Verse 8 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.
Today we reach the end of Paul’s thinking list and we are finishing it off as Paul did, with two words. Excellent or praiseworthy are not really additions to the list but the words of summary for the list. Paul is saying everything on this list will fit in one or both of these category. Each of these objects of focus are to bring us to seeing what is excellent and praiseworthy about our Lord and Savior.
Remember Paul had been telling his friends what it meant to have the joy and peace of the Lord in their lives. He had been telling them how to choose things like rejoicing. In fact Paul had commanded them to rejoice even repeating it so they really got it. Rejoicing is much easier when we make the effort to think about the things which prove God to be excellent and praiseworthy.
Paul told them they shouldn’t be anxious because God had always been faithful, we will remember that when we think about His excellence. We need to remember He is in control and He will never fail us, even when we don’t keep Him in the forefront of our minds. Paul reminds us to be thankful in our prayers, giving praise to the One who alone is worthy of our praise.
Much of our lives are wrapped up in our minds, whether we want to admit it or not. Think about it, even as we sleep our thoughts are working. The majority of the dreams we have while asleep are our brains still processing various information which is rolling around in our minds. They may not be conscious thoughts but they are thoughts nonetheless. This is another reason we need to be so aware of what we are putting into our minds because when we are asleep those images will play in our head and it is harder to correct our thinking while we are asleep.
Managing our thinking is important for everyone but even more so for us as Christians. We know what we think about influences our actions and if we aren’t careful about what we are thinking, we will struggle to maintain actions which reflect a relationship with the God of heaven. We need to be having thoughts leading to actions which point people to the God we worship.
Making It Personal
Are your thoughts on what is excellent and praiseworthy? Are there thoughts which don’t qualify as excellent or praiseworthy that you struggle with? Why are those thoughts so tempting?
Making It Personal Kids
How do you know if something is excellent or praiseworthy? Do the things you like to think about qualify? What thoughts do you have which don’t fit those categories?
Closing Prayer
Father, You are excellent and praiseworthy and nothing we think about can compare. Give us an ever growing desire to think about the things which bring You praise and worship. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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