| I don't know if it's because I'm taking classes on religion, or if it's because I want to become a pastor, or if it's simply because I've been down that road so many times, but I like to think that I've become fairly good at spotting Christians who have been neglecting God. I feel bad when I confront them about it because I know that it's the absolute last thing they want to hear, but I can't help but be obligated to because I know it's the thing they most despirately need to hear. And, try as I might to fight it, God is somehow making me more comfortably with starting these far-from-comfortable talks. The conversation usually looks like this; "Things have been tough/ overwhelming lately" or "I've really been struggling with..." or "I'm having a hard time being (happy, excited, enthusiastic, joyful, etc.)" "Well, how has your spiritual life been lately?" "Um..." Perhaps it's because I've done it so often myself, but putting God on the backburner, as one friend called it, seems to always manefest similar consequences and I've become pretty adept at noticing them. Therefore, as a friendly reminder to anyone still out there in xanga land, I wanted to remind everyone of the pearls of comfort and affirmation found in perhaps one of the most pertinent chapters of the Bible for people need reminding that life is far less complicated if you just remember God; Philippians 4. While is speaks volumes on its own and requires no commentary, I may decide to give one and I appreciate your understanding. And as this is my xanga, there's nothing you can do about it even if you don't understand. 4-Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! How beautifully simple a command. Rejoice, by definition, means to be ecstatic with joy, or to feel extreme happiness or elation. To rejoice is to be overwhelmingly happy, and with whom? With God. God far surpasses anything we deserve, and Paul says not once but twice that we should rejoice, and that we should do it always. I think that the most important thing to remember is that this verse doesn't say we should rejoice when we feel like it, or only when God has blessed us, but that we should rejoice ALWAYS. How often we neglect that 5-Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. For people that have forgotten God, or who feel that God has forgotten them, or even for those that have simply been too busy to think about God, this is a perfect reminder; The Lord is near. This knowledge may be more powerful than anything else the chapter says. If the Lord is near, what can be wrong? 6-Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. This verse and the one after it I totally love. Don't be anxious about anything, Paul says. He could have put a period there and moved on but he didn't because we aren't supposed to completely ignore our anxiety, pretending it doesn't exist, that's not what God wants of us. In a very short span of words Paul goes into a great amount of detailed instructions. There should first be a distinction made between the use of the word "anything" and the word "everything," because it's easy to use them in this context synonomously. "Anything" is "a thing of any kind." That's easy enough to understand, that God does not want any kind of thing to cause us to be anxious. Paul then says that "in everything..." which, on the surface makes us think back to that "anything" from a moment before, but I don't think this is how Paul meant it, I think he was moving on in this discussion. "Everything" is "every thing or particular of an aggregate or total; all." With Paul just talking about "anything" it would be easy to think that he means we should present that "anything" up to God, but instead he says we should present "everything," or, all of the "anythings." Paul is saying that everything should be presented to God but that we shouldn't let any of that everything cause us to be anxious. Again he could have quit there but he gives further instructions still, that we shouldn't just present this everything but we should do it by prayer and petition; by talking to God and asking Him for help. And all of this, Paul says, should be done with thanksgiving (remember that whole "rejoice!" thing?) 7-And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally Paul talks here about the benefits of the above, and its the benefits which will make a noticable change in your life when you take the necessary steps of bringing God from the backburner to the front. God's peace, which transcends all understanding... Paul says that if we do what he says in verse 6 that God will give us a peace that's greater than our ability to understand it. Doesn't that sound awesome? It is awesome, and it's free and simple to recieve yet so often we don't take it. The best part is that not only does God give you his peace but He also will guard your heart and mind. Basically that means that when you're praying to God about everything, He won't just give you peace but He'll also protect you from your own sinful thoughts and desires, making it easier to focus on Him... it's a wonderful and loving thing. 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. Paul gives a lot of commands here but they are all so very helpful, for multiple reason. Reading this gives me the mental image of William Wallace, a very well depicted Christ-figure who lived those things that Paul says we should think about. That list makes me want to take up arms and fight for those things with all I have in me, to fight for what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable... and to die for those things would be one of the highest of honors. After this wonderful list, Paul wants to make sure that nobody can find a loophole of the things he didn't mention so he qualifies his statement by saying that "anything" that is excellent or praiseworthy falls into this category. Those are the things we should think about. Examine for a moment the pieces of this complex yet simple puzzle Paul has so masterfully created (which makes me wonder if he could have made something so simple so complex without God's guadance). If we are thinking about things that are excellent or praiseworthy, chances are we will be rejoicing (v. 4) and if we are focusing on these excellent things, chances are we will be letting our gentleness be evident (v. 5) because how could you not if this is where your mind is? If we are focusing on praiseworthy things and rejoicing, which is a communication to God, we will already be praying to God and how could we possibly be anxious with everything so excellent on our minds? (v. 6) Finally, if you are thinking about that which is excellent and praiseworthy, your heart and your mind will be guarded (v. 7) because you won't have time to focus on anything else. It is such a beautiful web to have come from a few short sentences. 9-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. Finally Paul concludes with this string of thoughts basically by saying "do this." He's telling us that we should do what he has said we should do, to rejoice, be gentle, don't be anxious, pray, focus on praiseworthy things... and why should we do these? Paul says that if we do, the God of peace will be with us. In a very short span Paul tells us that we should rejoice always, that God is near, that if we give God everything He will give us peace, and guard our hearts and mind, and that we should also focus on what is praiseworthy and if we do these things, the God od peace will be with us. The ironic thing to me is that it all makes total sense. Think about it for a moment; everything Paul instructs us to requires putting God at the forefront of our minds, pulling Him off of the back burner and making Him a focus, whether when we rejoice, when we pray, or when we think about praiseworthy things. With putting all of our attention on God, it's no wonder to me that God's peace will be with us. We can't possibly expect to feel God and His peace if we refuse to ever think about Him. The final verse that I wanted to extract is verse 13, perhaps one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. I want for you to look at it in the context of everything else, however, and perhaps you'll see how it all ties together. 13-I can do everything through him who gives me strength. In verse 9 Paul says that if we do what he instructs, the God of peace will be with us, which implies that if we don't do what he instructs, the God of peace will not be with us. That's not to say that God leaves you but how can you possible feel God if you refuse to acknowledge Him? Likewise, how can God give you strength if you refuse to take it? Our life gets stressful when we get anxious. When we don't stay in touch with God life becomes less peaceful. When we don't pray our hearts and minds wander into sin much more easily, and when we distance ourselves from God, putting Him on the back burner of our lives, we lose the strength we once knew. To think that putting God aside has few consequences is totally wrong, but to bring God to the forefront of our lives is right in every single way. |
