Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

Everybody wants peace in their lives. Peace to think, peace to live and to achieve their dreams. Peace to be happy and secure, to raise a family, to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Yet life has a way of barging in on us, of bringing problems, of pushing and pulling us into all kinds of stress and anxiety− how can we have peace in our lives and live in a world that is so full of problems?

I wish I could take all of your problems away, but sadly, I can’t. I have problems too, and they just keep on coming. I get one solved, and something else always seems to pop up.

There is some good news though; it’s right there in these verses…

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Yes, there are all kinds of problems, but that doesn’t mean that we must dwell on them, stew on them or be overcome by them; you see, we can still have God’s peace, even in the midst of the problems of this life. Focus on the kinds of things Paul mentions here. Set your eyes on the things that are from above, clothe yourselves with Christ, and… the God of peace will be with you.

See? I told you there was good news!

Take the problems of life to God, leave them with Him. Yes, that’s right, leave the problems with God. I’m not saying that everything will just be fine and dandy all the time, but you can have His peace with you through problems, and God’s peace is a lot more helpful in solving problems, that anxiety is. When did stress ever make difficulties or challenges easier to deal with?

Yet the peace of God will enable you to see solutions much quicker when you need them, and if nothing else, will help us to put things into a much better perspective.

So, think about such things…