health, or pride foul up your life, take it to the Lord and ask him to give you a perspective that, as with Paul, was broader than just self and your temporal world. If you are plagued by financial problems, you are in for rough times if you say, "I will never have peace until I get this solved." Do not fight it alone. Take it to the Lord. He may leave you in a financial mess for your own good, but you may get a better perspective of life than money and may even learn of God's grace. Jesus told us that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he pos sesses. Contented is the man who can find satisfaction in the things which he possesses without con stantly struggling for more. An an cient Latin dictum states, "Worse than the man who has nothing, is the man who cannot get enough." We are to focus our lives on positive things. In Philippians4:8,9 we find a long list of them, "Fin ally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you." The Greek word for do con veys the idea of regular practice. Peace is not the result of an after noon of positive thinking. It is the result of regular living with a focus on biblical qualities. Thinking on negative things and those contrary to the Word of God will only build up conflicts. Everyone of these terms is vital, practical and rele
vant. A few brief comments are in order. Think on that which is true. What an apt description for the Word of God. Those things which are honest should occupy our thoughts. If you distort the truth, peace will be shattered. Let us make certain that things which are acceptable to God are found in our lives. To do otherwise will invite problems. There is also the phrase, "Whatever things are lovely." This means that which is agreeable to the way the Lord wants us to live. If there is adultery in the life; if a person is feeding his mind with pornographic materials, he will quite naturally build up conflicts and lack real peace. "That which is just" means that we are to deal with others on a level as we would have them deal with us. No one is entitled to some special privilege above another. A lack of purity in the life will generate confusion and shatter tranquillity. Many of us do not have peace because we do not take the things that are nor mally virtuous and worthy of praise as our feast for the mind. We spend too much time in other areas. Such a practice must be broken if we are to experience lasting peace. We are to focus our lives on the posi tive things which are in accordance with God's perfect will. Here are circumstances at our doorstep that need to be controlled—and God has placed the matter in our hands. One further point is to make certain that we have the proper re lationship with others. Paul exhorts us, "Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, and things with which one may edify another" (Romans 14:19). This entire chapter is a treatise on how to get "squared away" with Page 13
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