Dwell on Good Things
Reading the news can be depressing. Who am I kidding... it IS depressing! And it can cause you to have anxiety and stress about the future. It is just not something I want to do.
I think it is beneficial and important to stay up to date on current events (something I need to get better about doing) but I think it's even more important to make sure what's going on in the world doesn't take first place in our minds. The world we live in is evil, and is getting worse by the day.
As believers, we know that evil is currently running rampant all around us. We also can see that God has given people over to a "depraved mind" (Romans 1) and it's honestly awful to watch. But in the book of Philippians God's Word tells us what we need to focus our minds on, and it's not the type of stuff we'll find in the news.
"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."
Philippians 4:8
• True: What is true is found in God, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, and in God's Word*
• Honorable: Whatever is worthy of awe and adoration, the sacred as opposed to the profane*
• Right: Think in harmony with God's divine standard of holiness*
• Pure: Morally clean and undefiled*
• Lovely: Whatever is kind and gracious*
• Good Repute: Whatever is highly regarded or thought well of*
(*definitions are from MacArthur's Study Bible)
In short, our focus should be on Christ and what the Bible deems as good and holy. This week, let's read more of God's Word than we read of the news. That will help fight depression, anxiety and worry and will turn our thoughts to the beauty of Christ and the goodness that He gives to our lives, no matter how bleak things may look around us.