What consumes your thought-life today? What do you spend your time pondering? For me, it is the chaos of the daily grind. I have two kids in middle school. Needless to say, life is busy.
I have found that the busier I become, the less margin (and
time) I have for the important things.
The things that truly matter. Prayer
time. Quiet time in the Word. Kingdom Work.
Why is it such a rat race?
Why must I go in vicious cycles of having healthy habits one day and extremely
poor habits the next day? Can you
relate?
I think the answer is:
We are human.
Recently, I was reading Philippians 4 again, and the verses
that I’ve read a hundred times before just popped out in a new way. I’d love to share it with you. (Phil. 4: 4-9 will be summarized from the ESV
and MSG versions below.)
1.
PRAISE
“Rejoice in the Lord always; I will
say it again, rejoice! [Celebrate God
all day, every day. Revel in Him! Make it as clear as you can to everyone you
meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. The Lord is coming soon.]”
2.
PRAY
“Do not be anxious about anything,
but in prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. [Don’t
fret or worry. Instead of worrying,
pray. Let petitions and praises shape
your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.]”
3.
PEACE
“And the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for
good, will come and settle you down. It’s
wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
4.
PONDER
“Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable… whatever is excellent…
whatever is worthy of praise…. Think about these things! [Summing it up, friends, I’d say you’ll do
your best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble,
reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious… the best (not the worst)….. the beautiful
(not the ugly)… and things to praise (not things to curse.) Put this into practice.]”
Paul sums it up by reiterating that all these things will
lead back to PEACE.
“Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with
you. [Do that, and God, who makes
everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
Wow. I love the Message Version of the Bible. It’s such a great resource to use when we want a more vibrant picture of what the original authors were trying to say. It says God will work you into His MOST EXCELLENT HARMONIES. Who doesn’t want that?
I pray that you will find yourself praising Him, seeking Him
and pondering the good things that He has given us. May the Peace of Christ dwell in you richly.
Amen.
Your devotional leads me to the book of Ecclesiastes. The study of “Chasing the Wind”.
ReplyDelete“What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?” Ecc 1:3. Life under the sun seems useless and futile. A repetitive cycle that we call the rat race. But we are not to fret, for the lesson in Ecc is that meaning in life does not come from philosophy, excitement or pleasure but through a Person. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.” Word is translated logas “meaning of life”. We are to be continually reconciled with God to strive to live in His image. God is good in All ways and always God is good. Our goal is to live in His image on earth, like Jesus. We’re back to the question, What Would Jesus Do? When we live in alignment to our beliefs, to the Word - we find peace and meaning.