Have you ever looked at this passage from both the positive
and negative viewpoints at the same time? The contrast is glaring.
“4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4)
Let’s first look at this from the positive side. If we:
· Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS
· Let your reasonableness be known to EVERYONE
· Do not be anxious about ANYTHING
· Make know to God your prayers, supplication,
thanksgiving, and requests in EVERYTHING
Then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
On the other hand, look at this from the negative side:
· If we only rejoice in the Lord SOMETIMES,
because the OTHER TIMES we are rejoicing in the world, the flesh, and the devil
· If we are selective in showing reasonableness to
SOME people, while showing rottenness to OTHERS
· If we are not anxious about the things that we
are able to manage OURSELVES, while giving free reign to anxiety in ANYTHING WE
CAN’T HANDLE
· If we only pray, and petition, and give thanks,
and present requests to God about SOME THINGS, while complaining, and
back-biting, and slandering, and bickering, about OTHER THINGS
Then the peace of God will elude us, leaving our hearts and
minds unguarded, and the thief freely working to steal, and kill, and destroy
(John 10:10).
The negative does show the glory of the positive all the
more clearly, wouldn’t you think?
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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