Dwell On These Things

This verse was rolling around in my head the last couple weeks. I'm sure you've seen it.

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. (Php 4:8)

I thought, "Do I?" Truthfully, I'd have to answer, "Not enough." In fact, not nearly enough. What do I "dwell on"? There's the whole problem of the "alphabet community" -- LGBT ... whatever else is tacked on. They're redefining morality, marriage, sex, love, even trying to redefine Christianity, and so much more. And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those." There's the entire political scene, with Trump and Biden, the right and the left, the GOP and the Dems, the November election, the serious questions of political weaponization of the judicial branch and the assault on the judicial branch by the legislative branch and ... oh, so much stuff under that term, "political scene." And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those." Or how about today's media? Any news source you want to consider. Do we have a reliable source? Is anyone accurately reporting the facts, or are all our sources just giving us their spin? Why does it look so much like Orwell's 1984? And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those." And those big, international concerns -- Ukraine vs Russia, Israel vs Gaza, Iran and Yemen and all the fighting we see. There are international conspiracies like the World Economic Forum that openly suggest we end capitalism and democracy and are quietly working toward that end ... in my very backyard, even. And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those." There are closer issues like will my retirement hold out against inflation or why are people so evil to one another so much of the time or who taught that guy to drive? Things like that. And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those." The list goes on. You know how it is. Our modern world is in turmoil politically, environmentally, financially, geopolitically, physically ... on and on. So much to concern ourselves over. And I hear, "Dwell on these things, not those."

I wonder what that would look like? I wonder how it would be dwelling only on that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute. If, instead of looking at the storms all around, we were looking at those things that are excellent and worthy of praise, wouldn't we be living differently? Wouldn't we be worrying less and wringing our hands less? Wouldn't we be calmer, less angry, less agitated? Wouldn't we be closer to the joy and peace that Christ came to bestow on us? Funny thing. There may not be a lot we can do about so much of what's going on in our world, but our failure, even refusal to "dwell on these things" rather than all that other garbage is something we can do. They can't prevent us. We are the ones that aren't doing it. And then we complain to God about how things are so bad. And He's saying, "Dwell on these things, not those." Why not? My high school driving instructor told me, "Don't watch the parked cars; keep your eyes where you're going. You will always go where you are looking." So where do we want to go? The good or the bad? I suppose, more to the point, who are you going to obey? The world and all its uproar or God: "Dwell on these things, not those."