Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9
Last week, we reflected on Paul's trust in God, expressed in Philippians 4:4-8, which ended with the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds. God's own serenity founded on His infinite knowledge and unlimited power: this peace is available to us when we make our requests known to God in prayer and it is no wonder that Paul says it 'surpasses all understanding'. This peace frees us to think on the great things that Paul now directs us towards, taking us from the peace to God to the God of peace being with us.
St Paul now directs us to focus on what’s true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise. To elaborate on these things would require a new series of Reflections but I think we can summarise what Paul meant by quoting what he wrote to another church at about the same time (Colossians 3:1-2).
‘If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’
Paul’s words remind me of what Jesus said, recorded in Matthew 6:19-34. In the Sermon on the Mount, immediately after Jesus said that we should accumulate treasure in Heaven, not on earth, and before telling us that we can’t hope to serve both God and money, he explained this.
‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’
What we see feeds our thoughts. Most of us live in consumer societies that constantly parade before us goods and services that people want us to buy. In fact, the way of life in many countries is kept going by getting us to buy what we don’t need and didn’t previously want. And if we can’t afford what we want, we can usually find someone to offer us credit so we can buy it anyway! If we begin to think on this way of life, we’ll soon submit to the discontent that defines our society and want the same things.
It’s not just the adverts we see on television but the ways that products are placed in all the programmes and the attitudes of the characters that make it seem normal to want to buy them. Our streets and shops are filled with advertisements. Adverts often pop up when we’re on the internet and in many countries we’re plagued by telephone calls, texts and emails trying to sell us stuff or to find out if we might be persuaded to buy. No longer do we need to look around to covet our neighbour’s wife, house, field, employees, animals or anything else that he has for the temptation is brought right to us in ways that are impossible to avoid.
While we cannot avoid all this materialism and consumerism, we need not dwell on it but can focus on the higher things that Paul direct us to. That’s how he learned ultimate contentment and we can practice these same things and learn it to. ‘And the God of peace will be with you.’
© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.
What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
