My Favorite Things
Philippians 4:4-9During the school year 1965 –1966, I was in 4th grade. My teacher was Miss Kazanas – she was an Opera singer as well as a teacher – who decided that it would be a wonderful idea for her to teach us the songs from the movie, “The Sound of Music” which had just been released.
And now, almost 40 years later, I really don’t think I could forget those songs if I tried!
As I was thinking about the verses that we were going to be talking about, the idea came to me that the song from the movie, “My Favorite Things,” approached handling unpleasant situations in a similar fashion to how Paul was encouraging the Philippians to handle their circumstances. [If you don’t know the song, see lyrics below.]
The Bible, as well as the song says that our world is full of “Dog bites” and “Bee stings.” So the question is, ‘How do we handle ourselves during difficult circumstances such that God is honored and we have peace and contentment?’
The song wants us to push the unpleasant things in our lives out of our minds by simply remembering our favorite things. This actually works but is really only the first part of Paul’s more complete solution to honoring God and finding peace even in the midst of the biting and stinging.
Paul gives us 3 instructions for handling difficult circumstances:
1) Focus our minds on the good things. [Verses 4 and 8.]
2) Continue to have the right attitude and actions even while getting bitten or stung. [Verses 5 and 9.]
3) Taking our mind off the bad things by giving them to God in prayer. [Verses 6 and 7]
When we follow these 3 instructions, God promises His peace and His presence. Not only does this comfort us, but it is also one of the greatest witnesses to the reality of God in a person's life. Our world desperately needs to see “His peace” in “His people.” This will draw them to Jesus and that is the greatest purpose of our lives.
Randy Wilcox
posted by reachgarland @ 4:40 AM
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