Insights

“...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.” 
Philippians 4:8

This week we pick up with the second half of Philippians 4:8:  pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. In my mind I lump all of these things together because all of these things are “good”. We live in a time/culture where everything just seems bad all the time and so our minds start to only see the negative in a world that God created. If we force ourselves to step back, there’s an awful lot to love.  I find it very compelling that Paul tells the church in Philippi what to think about. Think about these good things. It’s almost like if we keep our minds on the things of God, we will be staying in line with the process of sanctification that we are all on.

Both what I wrote about last week and the second half of Philippians 4:8 which we touch on this week come from what’s inside us. In Matthew 12, Jesus, when talking to the Pharisees says, “How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” It is easy for us to portray something on the outside that is contrary to what is on the inside, but in reality what is inside us will eventually come out.

All of these things in Philippians 4:8 speak of the excellence of God and His Kingdom. So as we focus on the excellent story that He is writing in our lives may we heed the call of the Apostle Paul.
 

Joel Gutowsky
Director of Secondary Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy