Thoughts on Philippians 4

Today’s reading: 1 Kings 3; Philippians 4

For something the Philippians needed to hear 2000 years ago, how much more important are Paul’s words from Philippians 4 for us today?

“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.”

Could this be any further from our default…?

It is evidently not a modern problem that we don’t gravitate toward dwelling on what is true, honorable, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Our hearts are fickle, and our sinful nature loves to dwell on what is imperfect, slanderous, inconvenient, frustrating, annoying, inconsiderate, scary, etc. We don’t have to make any effort to focus on the latest juicy gossip, the ways our spouse is not treating us as we deserve, the annoying tics our coworkers have, the needs we fear aren’t going to be met, the things that didn’t go the way we intended, and a thousand other things that only foster irritation, anxiety, and alienation from those around us. This is why Paul tells the Philippians to actively choose to focus on these other things instead which draw our hearts away and out of the muck and mire of selfishness we otherwise spend our entire lives slogging through.

But if this was important in the ancient world, how much more so today? In a day of endless social media, 24-hour news, and constant connectivity to entertainment, what are our hearts encouraged to dwell on?

While this may not be what people want to hear, I feel like I have to say that I really don't think "daily quiet time" is enough of an answer here. Certainly we need to be building a habit of daily time with the Lord, reading the Bible and praying, but that can't be the only change we make if we want to see our thinking change, but if you spend even an hour each morning with the Lord, and then spend the other 15 waking hours of your day tethered to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, HBO MAX, and whatever other platform I'm not thinking of at the moment, what are you setting your mind on? Don't get me wrong, daily time with the Lord is an essential foundation, but no matter how well you establish the foundation, if you pile garbage on top of it, you're still only building a dump...

I'm not saying this in an alarmist way, like everyone needs to get off all social media, and stop all streaming platforms, and burn their phones if they want to have a healthy spiritual life (though, that might honestly help...). I mean, the vast majority of you who read this will probably have linked to it off Facebook, so how hypocritical would that be? What I am saying though is that we do all need to take stock of this one before the Lord.

Does the way you spend your time and the content you consume foster or detract from your focusing on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy? I think a lot of us are setting ourselves up for significant difficulty and failure here by what we consume and how often we consume it. What would it look like practically for your thought-life to look more like what Paul describes here in Philippians 4?

It will always take effort to set our minds on the right things, but the way we spend our time and the kinds of content we consume can dramatically add to the effort we have to put in to set our minds on the right things. If we want to take this seriously, it's worth a little reflection on whether or not it might be worth trying to foster some new habits in the name of a heart and mind more fully given over and available to the Lord.