“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, 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.” Phil 4:6-9
I love this verse for so many reasons. Actually, I love Philippians in general. Philippians corresponds to so much in my life. Lately I have been wandering how to better guard my heart. I thought I knew how to guard my heart but the past few years have proved me wrong. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Prov 4:23. We have a tendency to let the wrong things into our heart or give it to the wrong people. As a result, we get our hearts broken.
Guarding your heart means you protect your source of life from being polluted and from giving it to the wrong people. What is so cool about the verse in Philippians is that it says the peace of God will guard your heart. The greek word specifically means “to be a watcher in advance.” The peace of God guards us from impending danger. If I pray to God about everything with a heart of thanksgiving His peace will guard my heart. Guarding my heart is not something I can do in my own power or discernment; God’s peace guards my heart.
I am often guilty of looking at things in a pessimistic manner. There’s something about pessimism that makes you feel like you can protect yourself; if you prepare for the impending disaster ahead you will be able to handle it. Optimism seems naive - if it sounds to good to be true that’s because it is. Who wants to be caught off guard by a storm? But I am learning there is a downside to pessimism. You will always be anxious and never at peace. Anxiety is not content to sit there, it seeks to control what is out of control. You never have peace because even once you think you have control you still have to maintain control. Its a never-ending cycle - you must protect yourself and your future but control is out of your reach. And it’s out of your reach because you are not God.
I admit, its hard to surrender to optimism. There’s certainly a risk in surrendering to optimism - you can be left in denial. But I am starting to see that we all have a need for hope. We all need something good to look forward to so we can endure the bad. “Finally, brothers, 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.” This verse ties in with the preceding verses: if we dont think or focus on positive things how can we expect to have peace in our hearts? What I focus on is what I become. If you focus on what is good then you can see the good more in everything. If you focus on the bad, you see more of the bad in everything.
What we expect a lot of times becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you focus on is what you get. Those who look forward to the good have that hope to anchor them during painful seasons of life. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf” Heb 6:19-20. I’m not saying that if you expect something, you will automatically get whatever you want. But there is more to dwelling on the good than we realize. In a sense, I can’t become these good things (true, lovely, noble, etc.) unless I dwell upon them. “For as [a man] thinks in his heart so he is” (Prov 23:7). I am starting to think that if I focus on good things (in the present and for the future - which involves a level of optimism) then the God of peace will be with me.
I wouldnt say Ive got it all figured out. But I think it’s better to focus on the good more than the bad. I feel like I can enjoy life more when I focus on the good things I have in my life and the good future God has for me. When you’re pessimistic you may feel more protected but you can never really enjoy the good things. You tell yourself the good wont last forever, so you maintain a level of detachment from the good. You never really let yourself feel good things because you reason that you will come down from a higher fall. You never let yourself go to the mountaintops of life so you wont have as far of a fall. But then you never get to enjoy life and you never experience the moutaintops.
I dont really have the answer for how to protect yourself from bad things or what being too optimistic looks like. But I do know that if you pray to God with thanksgiving about everything and you think on good and positive things then you will experience peace, a peace that guards your heart. I also know it’s better to focus on the positive than the negative any day. It gives me hope that anchors me during life’s storms and it makes life more beautiful to me.
