Philippians 4:8, 9
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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."
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I started writing this devotional in India sitting in the Bangalore Airport waiting on a flight to the neighboring state of Kerala. My travels are all-consuming and I pretty much just eat, sleep, and work, so I did not get to finish this until I got back home. But while in India, we did go on a little team-building outing with some of my employees there over the weekend. The attached pictures shows you the houseboat we stayed on and a short canoe trip we took with a local. I really had a great relaxing time with the team and we also formed some good relational bonds over the weekend.
Today's devotional verse is from my daily readings. At this point in Philippians, Paul has been talking about false teachers and the need for unity but here he is wrapping up his letter and wanting to give encouragement to the faithful. In these verses, Paul is simply exhorting them to think about good and righteous things.
Given all the secular messages we see and hear through our work, school, and media, our minds our often full of a lot of garbage that Jesus would not classify as lovely and pure. How do you think this affects our daily decisions? How do you think this affects our relationship with Jesus? I firmly believe that what we see and hear does have an impact out our minds and our actions.
But Paul does not stop with just focusing on our thoughts. He says that we also need to practice these things. So not only do we need to avoid "garbage in", but we need to take the pure things in and actually get off of our sofas and do something with them! And if we practice these these things of the Lord, then he promises to send his peace to dwell in us. I pray that wherever you and I are, we will think about lovely, excellent and honorable things, put these things into practice, and then be blessed with that peace that passes all understanding.
...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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."
----------------------------------
I started writing this devotional in India sitting in the Bangalore Airport waiting on a flight to the neighboring state of Kerala. My travels are all-consuming and I pretty much just eat, sleep, and work, so I did not get to finish this until I got back home. But while in India, we did go on a little team-building outing with some of my employees there over the weekend. The attached pictures shows you the houseboat we stayed on and a short canoe trip we took with a local. I really had a great relaxing time with the team and we also formed some good relational bonds over the weekend.
Today's devotional verse is from my daily readings. At this point in Philippians, Paul has been talking about false teachers and the need for unity but here he is wrapping up his letter and wanting to give encouragement to the faithful. In these verses, Paul is simply exhorting them to think about good and righteous things.
Given all the secular messages we see and hear through our work, school, and media, our minds our often full of a lot of garbage that Jesus would not classify as lovely and pure. How do you think this affects our daily decisions? How do you think this affects our relationship with Jesus? I firmly believe that what we see and hear does have an impact out our minds and our actions.
But Paul does not stop with just focusing on our thoughts. He says that we also need to practice these things. So not only do we need to avoid "garbage in", but we need to take the pure things in and actually get off of our sofas and do something with them! And if we practice these these things of the Lord, then he promises to send his peace to dwell in us. I pray that wherever you and I are, we will think about lovely, excellent and honorable things, put these things into practice, and then be blessed with that peace that passes all understanding.
...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!
