Whatsoever Things

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things that you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the peace of God will be with you.”                                                                                Philippians 4:8-9

These are two of the hardest verses in the Bible as far as I am concerned. They seem so benign and happy, so innocent. Something one might see embroidered on a pillow or wall-hanging. But seriously, the practicality and reality of it is severe. When the darkness is closing in, when the insanity of the world around is escalating at what seems like an unprecedented rate, the fatalist in me throws up her hands and leaves all hope behind. Instinctively, I just want to find a hole and curl up in a ball while I wait for the chaos to resolve itself. Negativity often appears easier than alacrity. They tell me it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. If that’s the case, my face wants a workout because a long face just feels much more natural.

For one thing, I have a nature that naturally gravitates towards that which is melancholy and dark. Although a born again spirit puts a brake on the downward spiral, it is still a conscience decision on my part not to go there. It’s like alcoholism. I believe that some people who are alcoholics are more inclined towards the addictive tendency to drink. Nonetheless, it is still their decision to indulge that tendency. What comes naturally is not always right, and because Jesus not only eradicated the punishment of sin but also broke the power of it, we can be free and changed from those things in our lives that “we just can’t help.” Still, it is our choice.

Secondly, substandard information is copious. Regardless of where I turn, low value entertainment, advertising and news is everywhere. There just doesn’t seem to be a safe place to turn to any more than isn’t full of the nonsense that I shouldn’t want, and honestly really don’t want. But oh man, do they make it look oh-so-good. Society has so perfected the strategy of normalizing sin, that even believers are willing to accept below par value systems. Ungodliness is anything makes righteousness seem strange and wickedness seem normal, someone once told me. And that is precisely what we see today.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

Go to your local library, or Redbox, or look at the top picks on Netflix. In my library, a conservative estimation is that 60% of all the movies they have are rated R. Walk through the mall, turn on the TV or flip through a magazine and look at the advertisements. Is it necessary to include the innuendo? That really sells your product? Check out the headlines on the front page of any news source. Rioting, shooting, scandal, economic collapse, terrorism, and the like is all you’re going to find. Bad news sells.

Society has also become a world of incessant noise. Very few people have learned the value of just being quiet. In one of my favorite books, The Screwtape Letters, in which a senior demon advises a junior demon on how to destroy his “patient” Screwtape says, “. . .silence — how I detest [it] … no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise — Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile … We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in that direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough. . .” Not loud enough? Gosh, somedays I don’t know how it could get any louder. Not all “noise” is bad, mind you. But it is awfully distracting. The noise of my family, my friends, my job, my finances all have the ability and the tendency to crowd into my mind and steal away the sweet silence, solitude and private that this world is so desperately starved for. Now I have no intention of quitting my job and joining a nunnery so as to focus more on Christ (as least not yet), but it is a battle to remember that those distractions, those noises have a time and place. And when it’s not their time and place, they must be quelled.

But note something about those verses up there. Go ahead, read them again. Yeah, there is no indication that it is negotiable. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command. When Paul wrote those words, he was in jail! Not the easiest of places to have a positive outlook. In 2 Corinthians he details the trials that he had been through, beatings, prison, shipwreck, stoning, robbers, and so on and so forth. Yet he tells the church to do the things that they had observed him doing, rejoicing in the Lord, being content with what he had wherever he was and placing his focus on wholesome things. That doesn’t mean that Paul pretended those things never happened to him. It’s not a denial of darkness around us but it is refusing to make our home in it. If you have believed and trusted in Christ, you have been transferred from the power of darkness into the kingdom of Light. Why try to go back and settle down in the old town? Is that really where you want to live?

Again, it is a choice we each make, where we put our focus. Throughout history, heroes have existed only in the darkest of times. They had every opportunity to despair. But had they given in to that they would have accomplished nothing for the kingdom. Doesn’t mean they didn’t struggle. Doesn’t mean they didn’t feel like giving up. They simply pressed on, lifting their eyes to one who could see the whole landscape, rather than just the valley they were in. There is a war that goes on in each of us. I heard it described this way. We all have two dogs inside of us. One of the dogs is evil and mean and the other one is good. The mean one always wants to fight with the good dog. Which dog wins the fight, we ask. The one you feed the most. Put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out. But put in the Word of God and have a thankful heart and it’s a whole different ball game. We are surely living in dark times, maybe to get even darker. But it is not for us to give up. God never gave up on us. And He is what we should be clinging to.

“It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.”

“What are we holding onto, Sam?”

“That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”