Practicing Hesed (6): Verbal Spotlights
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, let your mind dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8
Good Repute – Eyes follow the light. That’s why you can see the headlights of a car miles and miles away on a dark night. The eye is so sensitive to light that it can discern a single candle from great distance. If you spend thirty minutes in the dark, even the slightest appearance of light will immediately attract your attention. Imagine how visually riveting a spotlight can be on a dark night. You have a hard time looking away.
Paul uses this visual imagery to point us toward verbal spotlights. The word is picks is euphemos. It comes from eu (meaning “good”) and pheme (derived from a word meaning, “to bring to light by speech”). Quite literally, “revealing what is good through speaking.” The verbal spotlight on praiseworthy qualities and actions. Paul says, “Let your mental eye follow the spotlight toward what is laudable and of good report.”
That’s not so easy to do in a culture that extols the gangster attitude. From rap music to clothing, from movies to status symbols, our world seems bent on spotlighting the success of the disreputable. We live in a world that subscribes to the ethical principle, “the only sin is getting caught.” We faun over heroes and heroines whose lifestyles advocate an attitude of “you can’t tell me what to do.” We worship sports figures without regard to their personal integrity. As one media commentator said, “The new price of adultery is a $4 million ring.”
What attracts your eye? Are you following the spotlight toward what is pleasing to the Lord of hosts or are you fascinated by the world’s bright light bravado? Who are your heroes? Whose lives influence your thoughts and actions? Who do you want to be like when you grow up? Mike? Shaq? Brad? Britney? Jesus?
Most of us wouldn’t even consider putting Jesus in the “hero” group. Why? Because His life doesn’t come close to what we seek. Who wants poverty, oppression, rejection, torture, misunderstanding and death? No, we have a different kind of hero in mind. Our spotlight of “good repute” swings toward the successful Christian, not the invisible and humble servant of the King. We want to emulate the man on the stage, not the janitor in the bathroom. We are more likely to pass Jesus by as He sits with the homeless. We are in a hurry to get a comfortable seat in the pew.
Maybe we need to re-think what is “of good repute.” “Good” in whose eyes?
