Philippians 4:8 – 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. (NLT) It is easy to see an air of hopelessness around us in this world. The news that come out of the far corners of the world give us nothing that is going good, and all seem to be marching towards doom. This is true of the economy, ecology, politics, international relations, rebellion, corruption, mafia, conflicts and wars. We are each day bewildered at the extent of bad news that slowly creates a negative culture of frustration and confusion. It ends up in people quitting from life or depending on substances and situations they create to forget the negative environment that pervades all walks of life. But the Bible gives us hope for the future and this hope is built on God who rules and overrules the events in the world to accomplish His purpose. He wants to lift people up from the doldrums in which they are wallowing with sleeplessness and anxiety. But the Bible speaks of a God who asks us to bury their past with all its failures, losses, impurity, defeat and conflict at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ which is where God has achieved victory for all that man has lost in life. If we admit our losses to the Lord, He will give us a heart to think about the positives which He can doing in our individual lives. He has planted truth about God in our hearts. He has given us His values which are right. Whatever He attempts is honorable and He wants to honor us in His presence if we live the way He wants us to live. He wants to make our lives holy because if we trust Him, we will also become holy people, separated from the evil that fills our environment. When the world is full of hatred and conflicts, He wants to transform our lives to be lovable and lovely. He wants us to live a life that will be admired by Him in the presence of the angelic beings at the Judgment Seat of Christ. If we focus on these things which demand praise to His holy name, we would be following the most excellent way of life here on earth in spite of the negativism which has pervaded humanity.
Dear friend, are you surrounded by an environment of negativism, failure, defeat and loss? Do you feel that everything around you is hopeless and nothing works in your area of engagement? Are you pressurized by the scenarios around you to think that there is no future for you and for the things around you? The Bible comes to give you hope today that the Lord is at work in and through even the negative circumstances to accomplish His purpose. If you submit yourself to Him, you will also have a part in it. You can live positively, hoping and trusting God to use you for fulfilling His purpose in the world around you which will make your cause true, lovely, admirable and honorable. God brings in victory over sin, impurity, dishonour, curse, destruction and calamity through His mighty act on the cross of Calvary through the death of His Son. When we trust in Him, all things in us are made new. He bestows upon us His power, glory, grace, love, compassion and peace which are at work in us when we belong to Him and that will make a great different in our lives and in the lives of people we reach out for Him. Even in the midst of turmoil, God will work to change everything in our lives from defeat to victory, dishonor to honor, falsehood to truth and impurity to purity and He will turn disorder to peace and order. All of these that happen in our lives will bring glory and praise to His name. We can trust in such a great God to give us victory over all evil forces around us and to keep marching to true, honorable, pure and praiseworthy acts of His. This is the way to live a life full of peace, joy and patience in this world as partners of the great things God is doing in this confusing world to make the lives of people rich with His blessings. When we have such a great God in us and work with and through us, there is no scope for us to be negative and wallow in our failures, but rise up from the ashes of destruction and march forward for the praise of His name.
Psalms 84:5 – How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Thought for TodayThe God of peace who works to put the broken human lives in order is the most excellent and praiseworthy message to the hopeless world today.
