DWELL

Here's a treat for everyone! A guest post from Connie Su teacher!

“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.”
– Philippians 4:8

This is good advice.

I mean, sometimes, bad things happen and we come to dwell on the negative.  Sometimes I feel completely misunderstood and betrayed by my friends, I get all disappointed in myself for not doing as well as I’d like to academically, or I read something really stupid online and get all hot and bothered about it.  And I mean, not to say that feeling these things is unjustified (depending on the circumstance)… But really, dwelling on the negative only makes me bitter and not so nice to be around.  It’s actually embarrassing how ugly it gets. 

It’s so different when my thoughts are on the good.  And it’s not even just thinking about “good things.”  I can dwell all day about the goodness of myself and of this world – the good things that happen to me me me, and the goods things that I I I have done, the happy things of the world we live in…but you know, I’m forced to recognize everyday that the only thing in this world that’s really good – is God.

When I’m dwelling on the REAL positives – on how good God is in my life, how good God is PERIOD for just being Himself – my heart is changed and I am transformed.  Crazy awesome.

And you know, this is actually more than just good advice.  The verse in Philippians says to DWELL. It doesn’t say that you should dwell, or that it would be nice if you could dwell. It simply and clearly commands you to dwell on such things. 

So, you need to do it.  Not you should do it.  But you MUST dwell on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise.

Let’s take God’s word and really put it into practice.  And this too is a command. (Philippians 4:9)  The Bible promises that the God of peace will be with you.  In fact, check out verse 7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  How cool is that?  Our God is so good. DWELL my little friends. Let’s dwell.

Happy dwelling!

-Con.