"8Finally, 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. 9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." (Philippians 4: 8-9)
I would think on nice things, good things, and try to pep myself up with hopeful thoughts.
Yet a lingering sense of fear and upset still plagued me.
I kept thinking that I had to fight off bad thoughts, fears about the future.
I would then feel so condemned because I was fearful of the future, fearful of bad things happening to me.
I didn't really believe in the Gospel in its fullness!
Because I was still dabbling in the Twelve Steps, still going along with the AA cult, just not going to those terrible AA meetings, I did not have a heart that was fully established in God's grace:
"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24)
The Gospel is about grace, about favor which none of us deserve.
Yet for the longest time, even though I was taught that Jesus had died for my sins, I didn't even have a rudimentary understanding of all that Jesus had accomplished for me!
I didn't just die for my sins!
He died for the penalty which I would have deserved. He even became sin, that I would be made THE RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Him!
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
There is really so much for us to be grateful for, there are so many great things to think about!
Consider again what Paul exhorts all of us to think about it:
"Whatsoever things are true ..."
Grace is the Truth that sets us free! (John 8:32)
Grace and Truth are--i.e. is--on thing before God, and we find them both in Christ Jesus:
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
My heart was not established in the simple yet wonderful Gospel:
"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39)
We are justified from all things! Even when we sin, even when we fall short of God's glorious ideal, God will never again punish us for our sins.
Ever:
"1Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
And Paul references this promise to the Romans:
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Romans 4:8)
Now that I rest in this truth, now that my heart is at peace in this promise (Hebrews 13:9), it is easy and worthwhile to think on things lovely.
I know that God's promises are at work in my life, and I have His Word through His Son, whose blood was shed for me!
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)
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