Newton’s Laws

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  NASB

Lovely – Sunsets.  Newborns.  Smiles at weddings.  Rose petals.  Waterfalls.  Tropical beaches.  This is what Paul has in mind with the word prosphile, right?  “Whatever is lovely” usually brings something like these to mind.  Maybe you add chocolate chip cookies or the perfect touchdown pass, but unless you know the background of prosphile, you will probably get the wrong picture.  It doesn’t help much to look at the alternative translations like “pleasing” or “agreeable.”  Those ideas are just as indeterminate.  But when we find that prosphile is the probable combination of pros (toward, near) and phileo (to have affection for, to be a friend), we get a different picture.  “Whatever is lovely” is anything that moves us toward friendship with God.  “Whatever is lovely” is the highway toward heaven and it’s a one-way express lane.

Apply this new understanding to your life.  What behaviors do you choose that speed you on your way toward the King?  What places, people and things do you put into your being on earth that propel you toward friendship with God?  And, of course, there is the other direction to consider.  What are you doing that sets up roadblocks, detours or reverse directions?  “Whatever brings me closer faster” is what Paul has in mind.  Sunsets are nice.  Friendship with God is better.

I don’t know about you, but I often find that I am traveling the wrong way on this highway.  I didn’t intend to take the exit that put me on the road going the other way, but when I wake up to my actions, I find that the compass point of my life is not where I wanted to go.  But momentum is a killer.  Once I am moving, it’s much more difficult to stop and turn around.  It’s almost as if I think that since my momentum is carrying me in this direction I’ll just stick with it until I crash and the momentum ends.  Then I can turn.  My addictive thinking suggests that as long as I’ve come this far, I’m already guilty of going the wrong way so I might as well let the consequences be what they are until I can stop.  That’s the equivalent of saying to my friend, “Well, since I am already damaging this relationship, I might as well continue to do so until we part company.  Then I’ll see the error of my ways and come back to you.”  No one would treat a friend like this.  As soon as there is a break in the relationship, we act to repair it.  We don’t want it to get any worse than it already is.  We want peace and harmony.  It’s the momentum that kills us.  Isaac Newton’s first law of motion implies that a body in motion tends to stay in straight line motion of constant velocity.  In other words, unless something acts upon it, it will just keep going in the same direction at the same speed.  “Whatever is lovely” is a direction changer.  If you find that your life is moving away from friendship with God, then dwell on “whatever is lovely.”  Make the direction changer a part of your active contemplation and experience.  Turn around!  Now!

Topical Index:  lovely, prosphile, friendship, Philippians 4:8