Philippians 4:5-8

Philippians 4:5-8
(5)Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.
(6)Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
(7)Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
(8)Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.)

In a conference for youth group CORE members we went to in raleigh there was a story that stuck in my heart-- this kid who was a football player was very involved with his church. a lot of his teammates were also Catholic but wouldn't go to church or youth group. so the kid invited his youth minister and this other football kid to dinner. so they had a conversation very similar to this one:

church kid: hey football kid, you should come to Church, shouldn't he, youth minister?
youth minister: yeah you should. why don't you come to church, football kid?
football joe: because i see the church kid and i don't see any difference in him.

OUCH. Lets go back to scripture:

(5)Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.
*** if we are Christians, we should be able to preach without words. we can invite people to things, we can tell them to change, we can do all sorts of things, but if we are not living for Christ, if we aren't praying or growing in God, then we are merely a facade, and that will not create a change. our KIND actions and attitudes will always be louder than our words! People know when you’re real and when you’re just a poser. Are you a poser, or are you keeping it real?

(6)Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
*** by being real, we admit that we are not perfect. however, people seek perfection. They want happiness, they want something more. We CANNOT provide them with that, but through prayers and petitions, we can ask God (who IS perfect) to reveal Himself to people. We should not think that it’s up to us to change people’s hearts. Have no anxiety-- pray about things with faith and watch God work!

(7)Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
*** oh the irony! When we admit that we’re not perfect, that we are weak and that we cannot be good enough on ourselves to bring people to Christ, we start relying on Christ. He IS perfect, and so we stop relying on ourselves. Think about peace—what is peace? And how can we have peace that surpasses all human understanding?

(8)Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
***how can we have all these things on our thoughts more constantly? WHY should we think about such things? How will this affect our relationships?

some food for thought. discuss among yourselves! ;)