Practice Peace

Philippians 4 says The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Yikes, could you tell others to copy what they’ve learned, received, and heard in you?

I could ask others to copy some things, but not all.  I wouldn’t want to be copied in some of my attitudes, I wouldn’t want my children to learn some the lies I believed as a child, and I certainly realize that on any given day if someone practiced what I did they might end up like me, discouraged and in despair by day’s end!

But the writer of this passages encourages his listeners to practice what they’ve seen and heard in him, and then God’s peace will follow.

This guy had learned the importance of hearing, believing, and responding to God’s word so well that he encouraged others to mimic him by doing the same.

We have children, we have people we guide in our jobs, and we have neighbors who watch us as we come and go.  And we certainly want God’s peace to rule over all.

The best thing we can do to be a witness, an effective one, is to hear and obey God’s word in us, so that others see, hear, and want to obey Him, too.