This post was my From the Pulpit article that appeared in the Sharon Herald on February 3, 2017
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever
is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things.
(Philippians 4:8)
Paul’s instructions are important for us, but life can
make them so hard to follow. We are surrounded all too often by the biased, the
inaccurate, and the problematic. Tabloids and clickbait try to turn our heads
to the trendy, the troubled, and the tawdry.
Strong television ratings rarely support the pure, and what is worthy of
praise is ignored while panderers broadcast the banal. As such unhealthy items receive our attention
in spite of our best intentions, we reinforce our confinement amid the
cacophony of the uncommendable. Yet, Paul calls us to something better.
The first step in following Paul is to unplug from the
stream of messages around us, so that we can hear the message that God would
have us hear. Until we can hear
ourselves think, we cannot hope to think on the things that Paul presents for
us. If we withdraw for a while in a time
of silence with God, we can retune our spiritual antennae to that right
channels. Different Christians find that
rhythm of essential silence in different ways.
Some start their days an hour early with sixty minutes of quiet time
with God. Others may have twenty minutes
set aside a couple of times a day just to let go of all the spiritual,
emotional, and mental clutter that has built up so that they can be attentive. Whatever works for an individual’s
personality and place in life is good, as long as we can find moments to turn
away from the world’s noise.
Once we have disconnected from thinking on unhelpful
things, we can focus on those traits that Paul commends to us. The places to start looking are places those
traits are most obvious – the pages of scripture, quality spiritual writings,
and the godly men and women in our own lives.
Our goal in thinking on these qualities is three-fold. First, we want to come to a deeper
understanding of what it means to be true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing,
commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.
As we spend the time with profound examples of people and actions that
exemplify these characteristics, we move beyond superficial characteristics to
the qualities that give someone such a godly character.
Second, as we understand these traits, we want to
appropriate them for ourselves. Paul
does not ask us to ponder them for our own entertainment, but so that we might
become transformed ourselves. We need a
church filled with people who are praiseworthy and commendable and pure and
just and honorable. As we think on these
traits, we allow ourselves to be changed from the inside out into the people
that God wants us to be.
Third, once we have gained and understanding of these godly aspects of character and have begun to live into them, we will also learn to recognize them. At this point, we are ready to go back out into the world and see what God is up to in unexpected places.
In a world full of demonization and polarization, the
people of God need to be able to look beyond the incendiary issues of the
moment and see all that is truly there.
In most cases, both sides have something honorable or something
commendable or something worthy of praise.
One side may be narrowly focused on the just and another side
exclusively worried about the pure. Both
sides may be seeking what is true, but without quite getting there. As
Christians following Paul’s instructions, our call in the midst of the strife
that remains rampant in our civic discourse is to discover the qualities Paul
commends, regardless of where we might find them. Then as we find them, we can share what we see. Our country desperately needs people who can
break into the mutually destructive drain-circling that passes for debate and
lift up the good and the godly in our midst.
Our society requires prophets that see reflections of the divine image
and likeness in people who disagree. Our
churches yearn for the vision to see where we can find opportunities for mutual
encouragement and fellowship in the midst of our differences.
So, beloved, let us think about these things.
