"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 (NASB)N.T. Wright: -- *Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters*
"When Paul tells the Philippians to think about 'whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect,' he is not recommending a vague, cheerful optimism. He is urging them to attend to the reality of God's new world--the world where the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and commendable are the things that correspond to the character of God himself. This is not the power of positive thinking; it is the discipline of Christian perception. You become what you behold."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: -- *The Cost of Discipleship*
"The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light. The word of the cross remains a stumbling block to the world. But to those who believe, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. To follow Jesus means taking up the cross daily, and that is anything but comfortable or agreeable. But it is the way of life, the only way."
Athanasius: -- *On the Incarnation*, Chapter 1, §4
"He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God. He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality. For He Himself was not injured by these things, being impassible and incorruptible; but rather, by His own impassibility, He healed the sufferer, and by His condescension to the weakness of the flesh, He convinced the unbelieving of the Father's goodness and providence."
Dallas Willard: -- *The Spirit of the Disciplines*
"The disciplines are not the end; they are the means to the end. The end is a life of love, peace, and joy characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. But if you attempt to produce the fruit without the disciplines, you will find yourself struggling in the flesh. The disciplines are simply the way we arrange our lives to receive the power of the risen Christ. They are the architecture of grace. Without them, we are like a car without wheels--willing to go, but unable."
What would it look like today to let what is true, noble, and pure--rather than what is urgent, loud, or anxious--set the direction of my attention?
Marcus Aurelius: -- *Meditations*, Book 5
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own. We were made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To obstruct each other is against nature: and to be angry at someone, to turn your back on him, is to obstruct."
St. Clair, MI: -- Partly cloudy, 45°F | Humidity: 57% | Wind: ↓6 mph