Ahoy and welcome to the weekend. I hope this edition of TCD finds you well and continues to prove a welcome addition to your life. This week marks the conclusion of a fruitful study of the Book of Philippians.
How often are you worried about something you have no control over? How frequently does that nervousness drain your strength and confidence? Can I answer more often than I'd like to admit? In the text this week Paul challenges us to give up this unproductive and destructive tendency and replace it with petitions to the one who possess real power. We recognize that controlling everything in this world is an effort completed in vain, yet we persist. What we are reminded of today is that we only find true peace and freedom when we surrender those items beyond our control.
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
As complications in our lives add up, our tendency is often to stack take those items on ourselves. We internalize wrinkle after wrinkle which marches us ever closer to the brink of our emotional and physical capacity. And it seems no sooner do we receive yet another issue.
Think for a moment about those cartoons we've all seen with the leaking pipe. A leak appears and our character patches over it. Suddenly, two other leaks springforth and the character struggles to suppress those. No sooner are they quelled when another leak pops up, and then another. Finally, all the temporary patches burst and the futility of the efforts is fully realized.
This comedic event is sadly representative of our lives. Events beyond our control are both perpetual and inevitable. No matter how effective we may be at pipe-patching, what we truly need is someone to turn down the water pressure or hand us a scuba tank so we can breathe when it all comes undone. As Paul explains in the passage above, acceptance that there are issues beyond my control followed by trust in something greater than ourselves leads us to true peace. I am free to stop my fruitless worrying because I recognize the futility and have given the issues over to a power well beyond my own. The exodus of this pointless worry leaves us empowered to focus on that which truly matters.
“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.”
This passage struck me head on. Our skeptical culture is such that we are always highlighting the failures. Be it people, jobs, restaurants, or movies, we always manage to identify some piece that failed to meet the mark. It's a favorite pastime of mine to break down my last travel experience and expose the faults. Paul asks us to reset our perspective and instead focus on the positive. Not to say that we shouldn't critique and maintain high expectations (that is a critical element of success), but if we are to truly become better people, we need to recognize and catalogue instances of virtue for us to emulate as well.
And in truth, aren't positive people who we want to surround ourselves with anyway? I'm know we have all experienced a 'debbie-downer' acquaintance. I ask what did you learn from this person? Did they inspire you to become a better version of yourself? I'd hazard to say they were likely exhausting and only provided you with inspiration to distance yourself.
When we are able to let go of our worry, we suddenly find ourselves flush with time and energy. To continue our growth we should exercise this surplus by mining our experiences for instances of true virtue. For in focusing on the true, noble, and reputable we can shape our lives to become the people we so aspire to be.
Have a great weekend, share with a friend, and like the post.
-the contrary disciple