"Dwell On These Things"

  "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (Phil. 4:8)

  Are you having difficulty holding on? Do your find yourself tossed here and there with ease? Are you angry and bitter in certain situations? How much time to you put toward God and His word? Here we are called to "dwell on these things." These things we are called to dwell on should be at the very fiber of our spiritual well-being. By lending your mind to God in this manner, you are giving Him the right to help, to control, to grow and strengthen you. If you we do not give our minds to God in this manner, life becomes one complicated mess and we are easily taken down.

  "Dwell on these things" are how we are to shape our lives. David concluded in Psa. 19, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." David knew his speech and thoughts needed to honor God and be acceptable.

  We need to dwell daily on things that are true. True carries the idea of reality and trustworthy. Our minds needs to dwell on true things inspired by God not man. We need our minds centered on what is true according to His truth. Filling and dwelling on what is true keeps us from coming to wrong conclusions and reacting in wrong ways.

  We need to dwell on things that are honorable. Honorable carries the idea of what is serious and dignified. It relates to things that are pure and holy. How do we think on holy things? Psa. 119:38 speaks: "Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You."  The more you dwell on God's word, spend time with God's word the more it will lead you to thinking honorable thoughts leading to reverence of God. Reverence for God seems missing. Acceptable worship to God is from reverence for Him (Heb. 12:28). Our minds needs to dwell on the honorable things from God to us. 

  We need to dwell on the things that are right. Right is what is just according to God. It reveals there is a divine standard we need to hold to. If we are going to follow what is just we must think according to God's standard. 

  We need to dwell on things that are pure. Our minds need to be given to reflecting the holiness of God. We live in a world that impure and impurity confronts us daily. If we allow our minds to dwell on the injustices, the impurities around us, our lives will not improve. We are called to be holy as God is holy (I Pet. 1:15). We are called to use God's wisdom which begins with purity (Jam. 3:17). We need to dwell on God's holiness. His purity expressed in His word.

  We need to dwell on things that are lovely. Lovely deals with what is attractive and desirable. Wouldn't that fit God's word? Doesn't God call the women to be known for the godliness of their adornment? (I Tim. 3:10/I Pet. 3:3-4) Dwelling on God and His word are what helps us see the things that are true attractants in our lives and pleasing to Him.

  We need to dwell on things that are excellent and worthy of praise. What is excellent about bad situations mulling them over only to anger us? What is praiseworthy of evil? Why are we drawn into knowing more about failures of others or the evil that happened to someone? What does that do to our minds? It's sure not making us more pleasing to God!

  The more we "dwell on these things" from God's word the more we will have our thinking conforming to His power and love. What will happen next is your life will begin to follow God's holiness. This is a natural spiritual progression. Only by dwelling on these things will you begin to practice these things. Let's up-grade our living today!