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Daily Lenten Meditation
By Tom Robertsen
Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (NIV)
This should be the easiest meditation to write. In its most simplistic sense, the above passage seems to say, all we have to do is keep smiling, rejoicing, and not worry, and everything will be okay. But life is not like that.
A closer reading of the passage shows us that Paul has something pretty wonderful to say to us. I would suggest that by taking each point as a step-by-step action plan, the end result might become an excellent business model in these times of duress and world disaster. I'm not going to belabor the point - just a couple of clues should be enough. Let's divide it into three sections.
The first section sets the stage for action. Yesterday, we discussed the spiritual framework for tasks. Now if you come to any task with a sense of discouragement or inertia or deficiency, it's going to be a hard go. Instead, why not start with a sense of expectancy and of spiritual vision from real rejoicing in God's nearness -- God being "at hand."
Second section, let's forget the anxiety and approach any task with thankfulness and gratitude that God will support and sustain us no matter what.
Third section, the criteria for any decision - this all-time famous list of bullet points: things which are Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable, and so forth. And lastly, we should put it all into action using the example of Paul.
All this is not to give a lesson in business practice, but to emphasize that all of our tasks, large and small, local as well as global, can be divinely planned, carried out and rewarded.
One example: The citizens of Haiti are in desperate straits. Worldwide aid may be slow in arriving. We want it to do the most good immediately. I plan to pray each day that forthcoming relief efforts will be inspired by the grace of decisions which are Right, Pure and Admirable so the God of peace will be present in many lives restored and comforted.
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