Thinkers And Doers

I can't claim original thought on this subject. I heard a sermon preached on this passage from Mars Hill Bible Church, but it impacted me and I wanted to share my own thoughts on it here.


Phillipians 4:8 and 9 says:
" 8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
9 - Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me–put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

There are people in the world, and I'm sure you know a few (and if you are sitting there thinking that you really don't, well, you probably ARE that person!), who are really great at thinking about things and coming up with new ideas but seem too often to fall short when it comes to acting on those ideas. Likewise, there are people out there who seem far too often to act out of emotion or on instinct who would be far better served to stop and think first every once in a while. Wouldn't you agree that you know people who manage to fit into both of these categories and, in fact, that you yourself fit into both of them at times?

The verses above strike me as quite important as we journey through life seeking Christ because it seems like we're being given a very clear and concise set of instructions and that the reward for following them is being layed out directly in front of us! Could it really be this easy? Could the key to internalizing and understanding all of the Bible's teachings be written so plainly for us here?

I think it is and I think as so often happens when it comes to following Christ the idea is quite a simple one but the follow-through is where we get hung up. We're being urged in these verses to first think. Think about the positives...things that are right and good with life. Things that, though they may not always be easy to keep close, always display God's love. Read those words again and think about them as descriptions of Jesus...true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If we focus more and more of our time on these things we are setting ourselves up to draw closer to our Lord than we've ever been before.

But thinking is never enough, is it? Following Christ means we are being called to action, so doesn't it seem fair that a call to action is going to follow thinking about these things? With four words in verse nine, Paul is sending that call. He says that we need to "...put it into practice." In his letter, he's saying that any of those traits the Phillipians have seen him display, put into practice. By putting into practice what God reveals to us when we think about those 8 traits and, by doing so, showing others His love...that is going to impact others when they see those traits being displayed and someone along the way is going to want to get in on that action and they are going to reach out and help someone...and the cycle begins to repeat itself more and more frequently...and THAT, my friends, is how I believe God's work gets done by His followers.

So after we focus our thoughts and then with that laser-pointed focus heed our call to action we see that our reward awaits us...

"..And the Peace of God will be with you."

Amen.