And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8
At the beginning of December, I told my 4-year-old nephew Owen that I bought him a Christmas present and that it was under my tree. It was a rookie mistake! For the weeks following, he begged and begged for his gift. In fact, once, when he came over to my apartment, he ran straight to my Christmas tree and grabbed his present. He begged to open it, and he almost convinced me to let him have his present early. And then I remembered, I had just bought him a small toy just the other day that he already had to play with. He did not need his Christmas present early. I told him that he had to wait until Christmas for his present, much to his disappointment. I tried to reason with him, explaining that Christmas was coming and that I had already given him a toy. Unfortunately, he was so focused on what he did not have that he could not enjoy the blessing that he had already been given. That is what happens when we focus on what we do not have; we cannot see and enjoy the blessings right in front of us. Just like there was a better way for Owen, there is a better way for us than being focused on what we do not have, and that better way is focusing on our blessings.
Throughout Scripture, Paul had a remarkable attitude during all of his difficult circumstances. He never seemed to dwell on his difficulties. Instead, he focused on his blessings. He understood the importance of dwelling on good things, including God's blessings. He writes about this in Philippians 4. This is what he said: "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" (verse 8). This call in Philippians 4 is a call to focus on the things that God has blessed each one of us with, instead of our hardships and difficulties. When this happens, we have peace (verse 9).
How has God blessed you today? What gifts has He given you? What has He given you that brings you joy? Today, it is time to focus on all of the things God has given us instead of our trials and difficulties. After all, we have so many blessings He has given us.
What difficult situation are you facing right now? Write down those circumstances in a notebook or journal. Do you find yourself focusing on all the things going wrong instead of your blessings? Let's start today focusing on our blessings. Make a list of all of the blessings God has given you, even in the middle of the most difficult situations you are facing. It may take time to make this list, but I promise you that you will find God's blessings if you pause to look for them.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
Words of Encouragement
Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
