Philippians 4:8-9 The Message
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
A Stranger in the Room? Think About These Things
Have you ever walked into a room and felt you didn’t belong?
The first day for a new Pastor, their very first Sunday in the Pulpit leading their new to them Congregations through the very first of many worship experiences.
Nobody really knows who each other are.
What are the myriad of myriad expectations of the new congregations of their new to them Pastors and vice versa – Pastors know very little of their new flock.
Who knows whose name and their histories and their experiences on those first few initial “break the ice” Sundays before all the wonderful times of fellowship.
Been there and done that.
And please, give all glory to God and pray heavily and mightily for Your New Pastors, and their new to them congregations in this season of Transition.
As it is with new Pastors in new Pulpits, those first few days of anything new are always those of someone’s greatest excitement and anticipation and eagerness.
That first day of class for someone whose entering a new middle or high school.
The first day of College when the new High School graduates move into their dorm rooms and meet their new room mates for the very first time.
Fresh with the excitement of their College Degrees in their hands, that very first day of someone’s first job, first responsibilities following college graduations.
A new Job for an experienced worker in a new Company or new Organization in a new city, in a new state, in a new country – and those promises of promotions.
Those first few days of a young or veteran Service Member returning to Civilian Life, perhaps trying to adjust, re-adjust to civilian life after Surviving Combat.
Those first new experiences for a Cancer survivor when they finally get to ring the Bell to celebrate, declare themselves to be “Last Chemo”, “Cancer Free” or “In Remission” and now they have to rebuild their strength for life afterwards.
How about those first days and weeks and months when first time Parents are bringing home their first born child – and first being introduced to Parenthood.
How many personal “first time” experiences can readers bring to life here?
I have entered more than a few meetings, and I felt nobody wanted me there.
Frowns and furrowed and grimaced brows graced their faces.
It almost instantly spiraled me into a series of “what now” negative thoughts.
I thought I wasn’t good enough, likable, or worthy of acknowledgment.
I struggled to bring my attention to the purposes of the meetings because I felt the high likelihood of being heavily scrutinized, new boy on the block rejected.
Perceived rejection is assuming rejection before it has happened.
I am, among many, a genius at pre-rejecting myself on someone else’s behalf.
I will interpret the squint of the eyes as disapproval and the purse of the lips as annoyance toward me.
I may also assume I’m already rejected to protect myself in those first days, but this behavior leads me into a cycle of being rejected and rejecting other people.
I became aware of this tendency when one day the Word of the Lord revealed how the fear of rejection prevented me from walking in the ways He had for me.
God longs relationships with His Children, for us to grow and for us to mature in true friendship, consolation and compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation, kindness and mercy, peace and unity of mind, building, edifying His Kingdom.
He wants us to know who we are in Christ, which is chosen, approved, desired, transformed and discipled by the renewal of our minds away from the world.
Yet, when we get stuck in patterns of pre-rejection, we wrestle with all these.
We somehow automatically assume the very worst about ourselves and others.
Our focus drills inward until we can only see ourselves through a rejected lens.
This sin dark rejected lens prevents us from seeing someone else’s struggles and worries.
It interferes mightily with Christ Like compassion toward others.
It takes us down a path of biased and unchallenged prejudicial assumptions, leading to a barrage of needless misunderstandings and broken relationships.
While so many of us have external struggles with home, family, work, and finances, we also deal with internal battles of self esteem and God esteem.
Our mind is one of the greatest places of battle, where external battles are won or lost.
An automatic mindset of pre-rejection steals our peace and promotes anxious thoughts, pre-emptively, wrongly influencing our faith actions and attitudes.
It’s amazing how easily we can morbidly gorge ourselves on a feast of “hot and spicy” rejection when we automatically assume we have been or are about to be rejected, or we ourselves are about to move into our own “automatic rejection” of others mode – put some “100 octane into our motors and slam on the Gas”.
When I start from a place of 100 octane assuming rejection, it severely impacts my personal perspective of new opportunities and potential new relationships.
If I am 100 Octane closed off and self-protecting, the risk is it will leave a badly soured taste inside the mouths of others, it makes me seem cold and unfriendly.
This is not who I am, but when I’m ruled by 100 Octane fear, it’s what I display.
Slowly, I’ve learned the secret to overcoming this tendency lies in my thoughts.
And this is the critically important lesson we can each teach and each of us share with our children, our spouses, family, friends and to all our neighbors:
Romans 12:1-2 The Message
Place Your Life Before God
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 educates, encourages us to allow “all of ourselves” to first and foremost “be transformed by the renewal” of our minds, and our pre-rejecting ourselves on behalf of someone else who assumes the worst possible outcome.
The Apostle Paul heavily encouraged the Philippians to guard their hearts.
Guarding our hearts promotes peace within ourselves and our relationships, but we must work hard every day at it – sacrificing all our pre-conceived rejections.
Our sin darkened minds naturally run along negative tracks, but we can, by the study of the Word of God, and intercession of Holy Spirit, retrain our thoughts.
Imagine what would happen if we dared concentrated on whatever is good, and when we walk into a room, we dare think about whatever is truest Shalom, is honorable, meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse – can we dare to imagine the distance between us and Satan?
100 Octane rejecting ourselves, rejecting others because we are afraid someone might first 100 Octane reject us doesn’t honor God or you or the other person.
One of the ways to overcome this tendency is to look for the good in others.
I realized when I automatically assume someone has rejected me, I am also automatically projecting all my irrational fear of rejection back onto them.
I have prepackaged, prewrapped, pre-nailed tighter than a drum, a crate filled with every single preconceived personal biases and my 100 Octane prejudices.
I am just waiting for the mailing or shipping address so I can surprise them.
In my sin broken mind-set, they might be inwardly frowning in my direction, not because of my presenting myself, but because of something in their life.
Instead of responding with compassion and outward focus, we react with self-protection and self-focus.
I still walk into meetings with the “Do they like me?” “Will they like me?” “Do I like them?” “Will I like them?” game playing over and over inside my soul.
But I’m learning to refocus my thoughts on myself and asking the Lord, “How can I show them more you?” It starts in our minds and then translates into actions.
Imagine the state of God’s Kingdom if we actually took into our hears and souls;
If in the fellowship of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
We who are the Body of Christ, we who are supposed to be modeling and are supposed to be like Christ, God’s Church in the vastness of this diverse world;
In a moment of authentic Holy Spirit in an Ignited Philippians 4:8-9 mind-set;
Philippians 4:8-9 Amplified Bible
8 Finally, [a]believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. 9 The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.
Fellowshipped, Worshipped Prayed as one Community as God is in Community?
Oh, what a God-Gifted day of rejoicing that would be!!!
But, dare we too ever conceive or imagine or spontaneously plan for such a day?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, on this day of first experiences for many of Your Children, Thank you that you give us all the tools we need to live this life for you. Forgive us when we too easily forget to use them, let our thoughts scatter to unhealthy and life-stealing pathways. We want to focus on you. You are honorable, lovely, true, commendable, just, and excellent, and when we think about you in these terms, you help us think about others in them too. Help us refocus our thoughts today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 