But, what if…?

The “what ifs” got your attention?

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. —Philippians 4:8

One of my favorite verses in scripture was written by Paul the apostle in Philippians 4:6-7. And the reason it is a favorite, is because it deals with one of the most difficult habits we face in life: worry.

Here is what it says:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:6–7

So, the big idea is that instead of worrying about anything, that we ought to pray about everything! What does that look like? Paul says to tell God what you need, and then thank Him for all he has done. Surrendering these to him delivers us from the what ifs of life. Instead slipping into passive worry, be active in prayer. Then repeat when necessary.

But, like many “favorite verses” the next line is so important. Paul finishes this thought on removing worry with these words:

“…one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

How are our thoughts redirected back to worry? Yeah, it’s the uncertainty of our life. All the ways things can go wrong. The “what ifs.”

Because there are so many possibilities for things to go wrong, Paul says: “Direct your thoughts. Don’t worry about the what ifs; focus on what is true. Give your attention to what is honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable.”

In other words, don’t waste your time on worst case scenarios. Don’t focus on speculating what could go wrong; questioning the motives of others; fixating on what is dishonorable, or impure. He tells them to steer their thoughts toward things that we know are good, helpful, lovely and admirable. Paul is encouraging his people to turn from the thoughts that dominate this life to the goodness of God. To move from the temporal to the eternal.

Retrain the way you think—let go of the pathways that you have a traveled on in the past and focus on what you know to be true about God now: things that are honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. The excellency of God’s goodness: that is what is worthy of your attention and praise.

When you focus on the goodness of God, it changes everything.

 Bill Herried is lead pastor at CenterPoint Christian Fellowship in Tacoma, Washington. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, and Master of Divinity from Corban University in Salem, Oregon. He is married to the most extraordinary woman on the planet. Together they have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren and loves a good biryani. You can learn more about Bill on his blog, Your Daily Encouragement

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash