Whatever!…

Philippians 4:8 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.

We have Walking… just walking… no place we have to be or a plan to get there.

We have Talking… just talking with no walking… those who are just full of… talk.

We have Working the Walk… the type A personalities, where everything is about pushing every envelope and MAKING ourselves winners. The belief that, with enough will-power and self-discipline, YOU can be all you want to be.

I am NOT a proponent of Working the Walk. The idea that we can bully ourselves (and others) into perfection, to me, is the epitome of the road to hell… besides, I’ve been there, done that, and failed miserably every time! Besides which, the time spent working is time spent we could be focusing on God and not on ourselves!

Perfection… is NOT possible! It was left in the garden when we gave our allegiance to the imperfect creature and became like him. We only knew good… we only knew perfect… we only knew God our creator who made us in His image. But when we chose to agree with our enemy that God was wrong and WE could handle something we knew NOTHING about… we lost our perfection and we lost the opportunity to live in perfection. By eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we gave evil a position that only we could live with. God could not nor would He allow the place that grows and protects the tree of eternal life to be at risk for an eternity from evil seeking to corrupt and destroy… THANK GOD, evil is limited and temporary.

We all, every one of us, wish we could have a “do over”. Some claim, even in our churches where we have the Word of God telling us “No, it’s not going to happen.”, that we can and should pursue perfection by legalistically doing everything we should have done before and more. We can make up for Adam and Eve by being holier than they were. But let me say it again… perfection is not possible for the creature. Only God can be… only God IS perfect.

Scripture says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” How can we do what is impossible? We can’t! Only Jesus… Only our perfect God… could come… and take our place… and pay the price required to “own” our lives… and in owning, to cover us with His perfection… and  make us acceptable once again to live with perfection… to live with Him!

Does that leave us off the hook… do we just get to eat, drink and be merry all the days of our earthly life? Does all of earth get to live with impunity… without regard to rules and regulations.

A lot of people do… Even in our churches there are those who worship the creature, making themselves the ruler of all things, rather than honoring and obeying the Creator. Though they may not be pursuing perfection through legalistic works, they are declaring themselves as the authority and pretending that their own perfection has been achieved.

And then we have… Whatever is… true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellence, worthy of praise…  DWELL (walking and talking and everything else we do) on these things…

Whatever IS… ALL ABOUT GOD!

The only thing about us is… our response to whatever.

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our spiritual service of worship… to present our bodies by the mercies of God and to God.

The work required… do not be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

For the purpose of… proving that God is good – all the time… AND… all the time – God is good.

Instead of just walking and talking we PURSUE God with our whole hearts, our whole soul, and our whole mind.

It’s not a work… it’s not a task… it’s not a project… it’s not a destination…

It is an abundant life of pursuit! Knowing that…  Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure… He loves being pursued!

Let us pursue Him with all our might!

2 Peter 1:5-8 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Whatever! The perfect tool for our Ministry of Encouragement tool bag.

As long as it whatever is…  the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible