Because You Belong To The Lord

Meditations on the Book of Philippians

June 30, 2020

Because You Belong To The Lord

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

Read: Philippians 4: 2-9

Philippians 4 is densely packed with one gem after another.  We would do well to memorize much of Paul’s wisdom. Today’s brief passage of seven verses has three huge helps for us as we seek the life in Christ as our way of life.

First, verse 2 reveals the essence of our life in Christ. I believe this one simple phrase says all that needs to be said: “Please, because you belong to the Lord” (Philippians 4:2). Therein is our motivation to strive for unity in the body of Christ. Therein is our motivation to strive to be fully transformed, to seek the life in Christ as our way of life. Therein we are reminded that our life does not belong to us. Our life belongs to God. By creation and redemption, our life belongs to God. Learning to live with this phrase ringing in our ears, “I belong to the Lord,” should lead our life until our faith becomes sight and we rest in the loving arms of Jesus.

Because we belong to the Lord, verses 6 and 7 can map out our daily life: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Paul didn’t promise all of our problems will go away. He promises us that resting in the assurance of what God has done to reconcile us to Himself through faith in Christ Jesus will overcome our anxious thoughts. This opens the door to the third help: focus on God’s goodness.

Every day we have choices with what we will fill our minds. We can read Steven King novels or watch horror movies, or we can fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. We can think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8)

My Takeaway: Paul’s teaching is needed more today than perhaps any time in my life. Today our culture is dominated by partisan fighting, identity politics, and the celebration of violence and ungodliness. However, when our daily life includes large portions of Scripture, and devotional readings such as, Jesus Calling (Sarah Young), Guideposts, This Day with the Master (Dennis Kinlaw) or any of the countless devotional resources available to us, fixing our mind on what is true becomes our way of life.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.