6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 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. (Philippians 4:6-8)

I’ve heard Philippians 4:6-7 and Philippians 4:8 preached separately many times. But I’ve never heard these passages preached together. That’s a mistake because there’s a clear connection between anxiety and the things we choose to think about.

That truth has become more apparent as we’ve seen smartphones, social media, and 24 hour news services combine to create a culture of non-stop doomscrolling this past decade.

As Jonathan Haidt says in The Anxious Generation, “the great irony of social media,” is that “...

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. (Philippians 3:17)

Today’s passage is exemplary of a command we see all throughout Paul’s letters, perhaps most famously in 1 Corinthians 11:1 where the apostle said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Paul understood that becoming more like Christ requires us seeing flesh-and-bone models of others following Christ. And so Paul encouraged his readers to look to him as an animated, three-dimensional case study of how to glorify God in a cultural context similar to their own.

Paul’s words point to an important principle: If you want to know what it looks like practically to glorify God, look first to Christ and second to Christ’s followers.

Let me suggest you respond to that principle in two practical ways.

First, send a message thanking someone whose example you’ve followed as they’ve followed Christ. Who are the men and wo...

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. (Philippians 2:14-15)

Want to “shine among” the non-Christians you work with? Paul tells you how: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” Apparently, working without grumbling and complaining was as countercultural in Paul’s day as it is in ours.

C.S. Lewis once said that, “Hell begins with a grumbling mood.” The inverse is also true. People can get a whiff of heaven through the joyful mood of its citizens. Dr. Randy Alcorn goes so far as to say that, “Happiness in Christ is one of our most powerful evangelistic tools.”

The question, of course, is how can we be joyful and work without grumbling when your co-worker replies all to yet another email or your boss makes an urgent request at 4:45 on a Friday? By focusing on what Christ has done for us.

Just a few verses before...

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. (Philippians 1:21-22)

Today, we’re kicking off a new series exploring wisdom for our work from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, looking at one insight from each of the book’s four chapters.

We begin in chapter 1 with Paul’s words that—so long as he’s alive—he will give himself to “fruitful labor” for the kingdom.

Those words are countercultural today as retirement remains a goal for the vast majority of Americans. And thanks to the growing “Financial Independence, Retire Early” FIRE movement, Gen Z plans to retire earlier than any previous generation at the ripe young age of 54.

How do these people plan to spend the second half of life? The social media bio of a leader of the FIRE movement is telling to that end: “Mr. Money Mustache was a thirtysomething retiree who now writes about how we can all lead a frugal yet Badass life of leisure.”

This idea of tradi...