Biblical Message

Real Meditation

Author: Wenger

Scripture: Philippians 4:8“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Over the last two weeks we studied “whatever is true, honorable and right.” This week we will examine pure and lovely.

“Whatsoever is pure” ­ hagna, from the same as hagios; properly, clean, i.e. innocent, modest, and perfect. Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free from mixture or combination; clean; mere; simple; unmixed; as, pure water; pure clay; pure air. We need to meditate, think on and judge ourselves in motive, action and thoughts with regard to purity; freedom from mixture as the word is defined. Is our character mixed with pride, selfishness and dishonesty? What about our motives; are they selfish or selfless? Levin in the Bible is a picture of sin. If you bake bread you know that Levin is used to make the bread rise.

The Bible says: “A little

Levin, levins the whole lump of dough.” (Galatians 5:9). In other words, if we allow a little sin, soon it takes over and consumes our life. No one ever becomes a murderer, desperate criminal, alcoholic or sexual predicator overnight. All behavior can be traced back to a little Levin ­ a small starting point that continues to be fed. We need to understand and define “pure” from scripture. We should then meditate on the verses that address our problems and seek the strength of God’s indwelling Spirit to overcome; as scripture states, “put to death the deeds of the flesh.”

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The problem of the heart is the heart of the problem. We need to perform spiritual open­heart surgery; God is the doctor, his scalpel is the word of God. Meditate on the pure, unmixed life. Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the Kings food. We need to inventory and examine our lives daily against scripture for purity. When we see mixed behavior we need to ignite the furnace and melt off the impurities to become pure gold. Meditate on what is pure; scripture, Christ Himself and purpose obedience and become pure.

“Whatever is lovely” (prosphilés) that which is pleasing or agreeable We often remark isn’t that lovely; (well, women do, I