I've been working through Paul's letters to the Philippians this week in my “First 5” daily devotionals. In chapter 4 Paul shares one of my favorite passages. "Finally, brothers and sisters, 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."
There is no shortage of negative content in the world right now. We don't have to look far to find things that are not true, noble, pure or lovely. And truthfully, it is very easy to get drawn into that. But Paul is encouraging us to seek out and to focus our hearts and minds on those things that are beautiful, noble, pure and admirable.
Even during Covid there are lots of ways to serve!
But I would actually take it further than that. More than simply focus on those things, I would encourage us to share them. We live in an often dark world. But as Christ followers, we are meant to be light in the darkness. I pray that we could be the ones to share with the world all that is true, pure, noble and lovely. Let us be the ones to bring blessing to the world.
We are the bearers of hope, healing, restoration and redemption. We are the ones to bring the love of God and the peace of Christ into our world. In the message on Sunday we talked about paying forward the grace of God, that unmerited love that we have received. I challenged us to find an opportunity this week to express grace to someone who would never expect it. Since then I have been getting great stories from many of you who have taken on that challenge. I've even shared a few of those stories. Because in the sharing, we help others to focus on that which is lovely and true and admirable.
My encouragement to you today is two-fold. First, find ways to shut off some of the negativity that the enemy seems to want to use to flood our souls with darkness. Focus on what is good and pure. And then, begin to share that with others. Be light in the darkness. Bring hope and healing to a fractured world. In so doing, we bring the light of Christ.
Don't forget to sign up for worship. I would also note that our Plaistow services have been running close to capacity. If you've been attending Plaistow, you might consider visiting one of the other campuses from time to time to help us balance out attendance.
Have a great week and I look forward to us all being together this Sunday in worship either in-person or online.
God bless,
Pastor Steve