By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
A Daily Pursuit
Philippians 4:4–9
One generation often passes on life lessons to the next through the use of proverbs. These are snippets of the distilled wisdom of countless ancestors who managed to make their way through life before we stepped onto the stage.
Tucked away in the corners of our mind are innumerable examples of this sort of wisdom, a point illustrated by the fact that we can complete lines like these almost without thinking: “The early bird …,” “Two wrongs …,” “A bird in the hand …,” etc.
Because proverbs represent the collective wisdom of the community they tend not only to be memorable but also to be inarguably true. This is certainly the case with one famous proverb — “The grass is always greener on the other side.”
It is a curious aspect of the human condition that the degree of our satisfaction with life is largely comparative.
One second our mouths salivate over the entrée a server sets in front of us, the next our shoulders slump in disappointment as we notice that someone else’s meal looks even better than ours. Nothing takes the shine off a new car so much as spotting another car that is even nicer.
We always seem to want what others possess. We are rarely content with what we have.
In the last chapter of his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul offers an extended discussion of the issue of contentment.
Apparently having heard of some of the discord that marked the church at Philippi, Paul urged the believers there to cease their competition and strife and to live lives marked by contentment.
Begin your day with praise. (4–5)
In verse 4, Paul charges his readers, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.”
Coming from another person this might sound like a bland spiritual platitude. Coming from Paul, however, this was a command to be taken seriously. After all Paul had himself already experienced suffering and prison for the cause of Christ.
This was a person who had been through difficult circumstances and had earned the right to be taken seriously when he urged rejoicing even in trying times.
Paul’s charge to the Philippians was that they find contentment in the person of Jesus regardless of their circumstances and that they rejoice in the blessings God had given them rather than fret over blessings they had not yet received.
Pray and leave your concerns in the hands of God. (6–7)
Paul’s emphasis on contentment continues. He urges the Philippians not to be anxious about anything but rather to practice the art of turning over their concerns to God in prayer.
The apostle never denies his readers have genuine concerns worthy of consideration.
What he does instead is encourage the Philippians to give those concerns to God, to thank God for His goodness, to entrust Him with their needs and then to hold on in faith until God acts out His own good pleasure.
Fill your mind with the things of God. (8–9)
Paul has in mind also a pattern of life for the moments that separate our requests to God and God’s response to us.
He urges the believers at Philippi to train their minds to focus on what is good and honorable, pure and lovely, commendable and excellent.
Paul seems to recognize that in difficult times our minds and our hearts can be drawn away to dark places. Perhaps out of doubt, perhaps out of anger, we can let ourselves drift over into attitudes and actions that pretend as if God is not really there at all.
Paul urges his readers then and now to hold onto what is good while we wait for God to do what is best.
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