"Consider Him"

"Consider Him"  

    

   "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8).

   

   Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ involves much thinking, as in the Apostle Paul's calling that we exercise our minds to things of truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, good reputation, virtue, and praiseworthiness.  Certainly this begins with our pondering God, who is Himself the essence of all these wonderful qualities of character and its expression.  

    "I am… the Truth" (John 14:6).

    "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

    "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne" (Psalm 89:14).

    "The words of the LORD are pure words" (Psalm 12:6).

    "He is altogether lovely" (Song of Solomon 5:16).

    "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:9).

    "The Lord is good" (Psalm 100:5).

    "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness" (Psalm 7:17).

     Our minds exist first and foremost to think of their Maker.  While we must use our thinking capacities for many reasons, none compare with pondering God's nature, character, way, and working in all things.  Indeed, if we do not regularly and consistently engage our minds in the Bible's revelation of God, we can be sure that we are not thinking as well as we could about every other matter of our lives.  "Consider Him" commands the writer of Hebrews, who also promises that such thinking will keep us from being "wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3).

    Reading our Bibles leads us to think of Him.  Prayer directs our attention to Him.  Fellowship with other believers aids our remembrance of Him.  Realizing the primary, God-centered nature of our ability to think prepares us to use our minds for their intended purpose.  We can be sure that the Holy Spirit ever moves upon the waters of our minds, seeking to make a way in the waves for God's light to shine upon and within our thoughts.  We must respond, and thus "think on these things" by thinking about the Maker of all things.  As the old saying goes, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."   It is a beautiful thing, however, to direct toward the Lord so worthy of our rapt attention...

"How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!"

(Psalm 139:17)

Weekly Memory Verse 

  Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

(Hebrews 2:17)