Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Monday, October 12, 2015

Whatever Is True





We were reading in Philippians yesterday.  I had this book memorized when I was in Bible School.  I think I am going to keep rereading this book for a while.  There are such great truths in it.

This morning, this is what caught my attention.

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.

 This is verse eight of chapter four.

These are powerful words.  I don't think we as women walk in these truths like we should.  We don't give thought to the truth, to things that are honorable, or just, or pure, or lovely, or commendable, or excellence, or things worthy of praise.

Oh, not all the time, of course, but these things sneak in.  We decide its okay to focus on other things.  My main thought today about this though is about 'Whatever is True.'

I know someone who will lie to your face.  They will tell you what they think you want to hear.  They will say one thing to you and something completely different to someone else.  They tell lies about you to others, in order to benefit themselves.

This has created all sorts of drama and stress.  Its root is in immaturity and self focus, but the hurt and pain in causes spills over to people who try to help and be a Truth speaker to this person.  This person is hurt in the long run by their choices as well, they just don't recognize it.

As believers we must be people of Truth.  Not my truth, or your truth, but of THE TRUTH.

Jesus says, "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.  No man (or woman) can come to the Father, except by me." John 14:6

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, to think about the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.  We need to make sure our focus is on these things.  That doesn't of course mean that we don't know what is going on in the news (most of it is opposite of this list), or that we life in some kind of 'bubble world.'

No, I believe that to think about these things means that we will be thinking of Jesus and his Word, and his truth, his justice.  And that by doing that, we will be better equipped to handle the challenges of life; the losses, the hurts, the utter incomprehensible evil in the world.

The Truth is this - 
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  1 Timothy 1:15.

7 comments:

  1. Yes, words of truth this morning! Such beautiful words of encouragement from His word!

    I heard it said once that it is not about "positive" and "negative" but it is about "truth." Sometimes truth can seem to be "negative," but truly a heart of joy and gratitude results from seeing truth from God's perspective!

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  2. The Philippians verse is one of my favorite Scripture verses, which I quote often. TV news dredges up a lot of the worst and is the opposite of this verse, so I often step back from watching it. I stay informed but the visual aspects of the carnage on the tv news is too awful for me.

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  3. I love Philipians! My favorite is 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' Philipians 4:13

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  4. I love your autumn header Deanna, especially the plate with the owls.
    We were talking at Bible study last week how truths had to me memorized to be passed down until the words could actually be written in later years to create the Old and New Testament.
    This led to discussion about our church not memorizing scripture any more as done in the past and something we should look in to doing again.

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  5. TRUTH means SO much! I think if you can't tell the truth, keep that mouth shut:) Enjoy your day dear friend! HUGS!

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  6. Yeah for God's word and Phillipians!

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  7. Philippians is one of my favorite books! I have been really meditating on true thoughts. I really struggle with the opposite! I am re-reading Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George and she really focuses on this passage.

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