Praiseworthy

a devotional by Ryan Young

One of my favorite parts of the day happens late at night. I get to feed Kenley and hold her until she falls asleep. In this time, there is a quietness in the home. In this quietness, I have found myself abounding in the joy of the Lord as my lips are filled with thanksgiving. I know that I have so much to be thankful for, but having my baby in my arms gives me even more reason to rejoice.

It made me think of what the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church. Phil 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.” 

Often times I think it is natural for us to think on and even dwell upon the things that are going wrong, frustrating, ugly, false, or whatever it might be that is dragging us down. Yet this is not what the Bible commands us to do. Paul gives us exactly the things we should be dwelling on, and spending our time thinking about. We each have an abundance of things we can give thanks for, but we don’t. If you’re anything like me, it comes from taking things for granted.

Here’s what I want to challenge us with today. Spend some time, 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes praising God and thanking Him for those things in your life that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, and anything else that you deem worthy of praise!