Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.
As Believers in Christ Jesus, God has adopted us into His royal family as one of His children. This adoption has taken place through the Substitutionary work of Christ Jesus on our behalf on the cross of Calvary. First, however, we must take responsibility for living our lives in a manner that would brig honor and glory to God. We must be a good reflector of His light that shines before this world. We must live our lives by trusting in the truth of God's Holy Word and surrender to the leading guiding and direction of the Holy Spirit.
We can only accomplish this if
we center our hearts' eyes on Christ Jesus. God's Holy Word directs us to keep
a tight rein on our thought patterns. Satan will place evil thoughts in our
minds, and this does not mean that we have slipped off the straight and narrow
path that leads to God. As long as we do not allow these thoughts to take root
in our minds, we can shun Satan, and he will have to flee (James 4:7).
Virtuous living relies upon
proper reasoning, and God has vowed to keep the ones whose minds focus on Him
in impeccable harmony. He guaranteed that He would regiment our heart,
consciousness, feelings, and most profound considerations as we center our
petitions and praises around Him while giving thanks to Him. We cannot say that
we can't control our minds and what we are thinking about because God has given
us all we require according to His riches and glory In Christ Jesus
(Philippians 4:19).
God has created us to allow us
to take every thought captive and direct our thoughts toward obedience to Christ
Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5). When anxious and restless thoughts begin to
inundate our minds, Satan tempts us to follow a sinful path he has laid before
us. Instead, we must look towards Jesus and remember who we are in Christ
Jesus. Allowing these evil thoughts to linger in our minds will draw us into
cavernous despair leading to anguish and misery. On the contrary, managing our
thought patterns is a mindful and intentional choice, a conscious resolution of
our faith and trust in Christ Jesus.
The best way to respond to
anxious and uneasy feelings is to cast all our care upon the Lord and to take
all our needs, provisions, trepidations and cares to the Lord in prayer with
praise and thanksgiving. So, Paul is reminding us here in this verse to call on
our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus to help us focus our thought patterns on
things of Christ Jesus instead of the world (Philippians 4:8).
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