Devotional:Practice the Positive: Philippians 4:8-9

“The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9, NASB).

I try to watch the news and read news reports, but I do not enjoy hearing the same negative reports over and over again. So, while the news is on I often find other programs to watch or find other things to do. There is one news report that I look forward to. Each Friday during the ABC evening news the program ends with a segment called “Our Person of the Week.” I like this segment because it highlights a person (s) who has done something positive to help someone else. One example is when a son searches out his father at work to tell him that he had been drafted to play professional baseball. The son wanted his father to know that all of his hard work to help him to become a good baseball player had paid off. The segment ended with the son placing a baseball cap of the team that had drafted him on his father’s head and they hugged each other.

On the other hand there have been professional athletes that have dropped out of participating in some prestigious events in their sports. A top ranked tennis player dropped out of the Wimbledon Tournament citing mental health concerns. A professional women’s basketball player will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics because of mental health concerns. Now mental illness is a complex medical condition that has various opinions about the causes and the treatments, and I will not take any position on the issue. Instead, I want to encourage us to do what we can do for ourselves to help us with our mental health. I suggest that we do more thinking about the positive things in our life.

The church at Philippi was a generous church that contributed to Paul’s ministry of preaching the gospel. At the same time the church was experiencing some difficulties within the congregation. The harmony of the church was being threatened (4:2-3). Paul wrote exhorting the church to work harmoniously together. In order to do so they must emphasize practicing the things that was positive within the congregation. When we fill our minds with negative things we practice those same things. If however, we think about positive things we will practice those things. When we practice positive behaviors we reinforce the way that we think. We develop a heart filled with good intentions toward others. It is not good enough that we know the right thing to do; we must put those right things into practice.

Prayer: Lord, I want to put into practice the positive things that I have learned. Amen.