Philippians 4

Philippians 4 is loaded with nuggets of truth and challenges from Paul as he writes from prison.

As we were reading this chapter together as a staff we dissected the goodness of this chapter as we read with no plan in mind. We opened our minds and hearts to what the spirits wanted us to see, here a couple things that stood out.

In verse 4 of chapter 4 Paul says, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” (ESV). Some other translations use the word gentleness instead of reasonableness.

I was thinking about the crucifixion of Jesus and how gentle Jesus was while he was being arrested and put on trial. He was gentle until His dying breath as He says, “Forgive them for the do not know what they are doing”.

Jesus surrendered what He wanted to God in the garden.

When He was arrested, He went willingly.

When He was on trial and being questioned He did not defend Himself.

When He was being mocked, He turned His eyes to God.

This blew me away as I was considering how gently and willingness Jesus was killed for me. 

After Paul talks about, thinking about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent, he says to practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. This was the first time that I noticed that Paul says to practice these things.

Making that observation was relieving to me because it can be very overwhelming to be told to think a specific way. It is a daunting task to try to control the way that we think so being reminded to practice, not to be perfect but to practice was encouraging. 

This chapter and this book are full of riches! I encourage you to go ready it and see where your mind and heart are led.