Right or Righteous?

 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8

We have spent the last several weeks reminding ourselves that we need to be intentional in what we are thinking about. We have talked about fixing our minds- that we have to be active in this. No one is going to do it for us. We are thinking of things that are actually true, thinking correctly about ourselves, thinking of ways to treat others correctly, thinking on things lovely, and things that are of good report. This week we will focus on the last two words- excellent and worthy of praise.  

I put these two words together because they are put together in a separate sentence in the Biblical text and because in a lot of ways they are connected. The word for excellent is arete, which means virtue or praise. The Strong’s Concordance definition says it could mean a virtuous course of thought, feeling, and action. Moral goodness. Modesty and purity. 

This same word is used in 2 Peter 1:3 when it says, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” This verse helps us to see that when we think of things that are excellent we are thinking of the fact that God has given us what we need to live a godly life, and when we live a godly life we show off his marvelous glory and excellence. We are to think of ways that we can live our lives in a way to bring glory to God.

Some people have no intention of ever setting foot inside a church. Either they have never been to one and don’t see the need, or they have and have been so hurt by “Christians” that they have no intention of going back. These people need us to show them Jesus. The real Jesus. The Jesus, who loves us and wants a relationship with us. Not the Jesus that many Christians pretend to know. Not the one that hates people and thinks that they are not good enough for him. When we are thinking on things that are virtuous and excellent then we are thinking of ways we can live and act that will help draw others to the God who loves them.

The second word for us to focus on today was worthy of praise, which is the Greek word epainos, which means commendation and praise, bestowed by one to praise a person or thing. Romans 2:29 says, “No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise[or receives praise] from God, not from people.” When I read this I couldn’t help but notice that it says that we receive praise from God, not from people. We need to keep our focus on what God approves of more than what other people approve of.

In our social media-addicted society it is so easy to get caught up in the likes and the comments of others. We can easily be distracted by what will bring us approval by those around us. We also then can get caught up in what we see others doing and want what it appears they have. We see them smiling in all of their pictures. We see their selfies posted at just the right angle to make them look stunning. Then we spend more time thinking “If I could just have that” or look like that then maybe people would approve of me.” How much of our time do we spend trying to get likes from those around us? How much time do we spend trying to make sure our mind is being transformed to be like Christ? 

Are we more concerned with pleasing people or pleasing God? Do we try to spend time in worship, praise, prayer, and Bible study so that we can be thinking about ways to bring glory and honor to God? When we do this then we can be assured that we will be commended and honored and praised BY God. We need to be like Paul in Galatians 1:10 when he says, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Of course, we want people around us to like us, that is a natural human response, but more important is making sure we are seeking the approval of God. I am not talking about trying to work your way into heaven. When we have truly accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior that is already taken care of. We can be assured of our salvation and know we are going to heaven, but have you ever stopped to think about who you are going to take with you?

When you are thinking on things that are excellent and worthy of praise you are going to think of ways to bring glory to God, and then in God’s grace those things will also bring his praise back to you.

What is something excellent and of virtue that you can do to bring glory to God this week? How did someone live this way and help encourage you towards Christ? I would love for you to share in the comments of this post!