12 Days Til Christmas-Day 12

If you need to catch up you can view all the previous days below in the “related posts”.

Merry Christmas Eve!  

I hope you have enjoyed this word adventure for the 12 Days Til Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas one of the three most miraculous days of the year.  I hope you and your family, friends and neighbors have the most wonderful Christmas maybe even sharing what you have read the last 12 days.

Verse 7 From Day 1

Let’s remember from Day 1 the verse prior to Philippians 4:8:

The peace of God is superior to any kind of our ability (which God has given us) to reason.

Peace and Verse 9

Today, before getting to the last word, let’s look at verse 9. Both verse 7 and 9 use the word peace which is defined in the Greek as God’s wholeness, when all essential parts are joined together.  Paul is using all the senses in verse 9 mind, heart, hearing, sight to help people understand what they can do to have the wholeness (when all essential parts are joined together) of God (peace).  Is simply do what he has done. If we practice (Greek meaning: the active process in performing (accomplishing) a deed, and implying what is done as a regular practice).  Let’s put this together below with further definition:

Also what you have come to realize and came alongside and aggressively took and heard and discerned clearly within me, this has taken place; and the God of wholeness exists in company with (creates a change, result, after effect) you. 

Verse 8

Okay, now that we have those two verses let’s finish with verse 7.  The last word is “think on”.  Think on, in the Greek, means:

• root of the English terms logic, bottom line, compute, take into account, reckon (bottom line), reason to a logical decision.

Let’s put together what we have for verse 8:

From now on, all believers (born out of belief in Christ), all that can’t be hidden, all that is deeply respected because viewed as majestic, all that is just in the eyes of God (approved, righteous), all that is uncontaminated from sin and without spoilation even down to the center of one’s being (not mixed with guilt or anything condemnable),all that is worthy of personal affection, all that is deserving praise of good reputation (spoken in a kindly spirit), if (what follows is factual) any (any one, a certain one or thing) moral excellence and if (what follows is factual) any (any one, a certain one or thing) fitting praise (recognition: because it relates to God’s will)–what is being referred to (these things) reason to a logical decision.

Philippians 4:7-9

All together for Philippians 4:7-9 (with further meaning):

The peace of God is superior to any kind of our ability (which God has given us) to reason. From now on, all believers (born out of belief in Christ), all that can’t be hidden, all that is deeply respected because viewed as majestic, all that is just in the eyes of God (approved, righteous), all that is uncontaminated from sin and without spoilation even down to the center of one’s being (not mixed with guilt or anything condemnable),all that is worthy of personal affection, all that is deserving praise of good reputation (spoken in a kindly spirit), if (what follows is factual) any (any one, a certain one or thing) moral excellence and if (what follows is factual) any (any one, a certain one or thing) fitting praise (recognition: because it relates to God’s will)–what is being referred to (these things) reason to a logical decision.  Also what you have come to realize and came alongside and aggressively took and heard and discerned clearly within me, this has taken place; and the God of wholeness exists in company with (creates a change, result, after effect) you. 

My Conclusion

Here is my conclusion:

The wholeness God gives us is superior to anything we can do on our own.  My focus, just as Paul had lived his life, is on Jesus who is-

• deeply respected because majestic
• righteous
• uncontaminated from sin
• worthy of personal affection
• deserving praise of good reputation
• it is a fact he is morally excellent and fitting of praise

which is logical.  With my focus on Jesus, like Paul, I have come to realize, aggressively took, heard and discerned clearly within me which has cause a distinct change or after effect because of God living in me.

Simple and Easy

Remember God’s wholeness (peace) is superior to my ability to reason.  This simply means the after effect, the change is all his doing I simply rest in Who He is!  It is truly that simple. See the God of the universe did all the hard work for us.  We are fortunate to live in such a time as this.  The New Covenant was created by the facts that God’s Son was born, then He died and was raised again.  These acts created the New Covenant we can choose to live in and from. This Christmas we celebrate the coming of Jesus the Christ.

From my family to yours Merry Christmas, 

Darlene

(All Greek definitions come from the Interlinear section of biblehub.com)