Lovely

Next in Paul’s list of meditation concepts in  Philippians 4:8  is “whatever things are lovely.” Why would it be important to meditate upon—think about and spend our time focusing on—what is lovely? It is important because Satan wants us to be thinking about things that are not lovely. He has made it easy to have those things in mind.

Could there be things we may be thinking about that are not lovely? Horror books and movies, family dysfunction, worldly violence, and profane music lyrics are just a few examples of things that can draw our thoughts to the opposite of lovely.

So what does it mean to meditate on “whatever things are lovely”?

What does lovely mean?

According to Thayer’s and Strong’s concordances, the Greek word translated “lovely” has some unexpected definitions: friendly towards, pleasing, and acceptable. 

When we think of something being “lovely,” we probably first think of something pleasant, like a bouquet of flowers or a bride in a beautiful, flowing dress. We may think of calming melodic music as lovely, or we may use that word to describe the personality of a particularly pleasant person.

Lovely describes something that is pleasing to God—something worthy of Him.

The primary emphasis of lovely in Philippians 4:8 is on things that are pleasing and acceptable to God. But based on the Greek word Paul used, lovely in this passage describes something that is pleasing to God—something worthy of Him. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think of and focus on the many beautiful aspects of physical life—we should! But the primary emphasis of lovely in Philippians 4:8 is on things that are pleasing and acceptable to God.

Consider the following examples that would be considered lovely in God’s eyes:

• A loving family with all members caring about each other and supporting one another ( Psalm 133:1 ).
• A virtuous worker showing integrity and honor in his or her work and service to others ( Titus 2:6-8 ).
• A child who helps and respects an elderly person ( Leviticus 19:32 ).
• A group of longtime friends meeting together to enjoy good, clean conversation laced with much laughter and joy ( Proverbs 27:17 ).

Those are all examples of things that are lovely in God’s sight—and should be lovely in ours, too! Let’s look at some ways to think and speak what is lovely.

Thinking what is lovely

To think what is lovely, try to:

Take time to focus on the pure loveliness of God’s Word. Study the things mentioned in the Bible that are described as lovely and beautiful, such as:

• Holiness ( 1 Chronicles 16:29 ; 2 Chronicles 20:21).
• A gentle and quiet spirit ( 1 Peter 3:3-4 ). 
• A loving family that models God’s intent for the family ( Ephesians 5:25 ; Ephesians 6:4 ).
• Obeying God’s law according to its original spirit and intent ( Romans 13:10 ;  James 1:25 ).
• The beautiful attributes Christ described in the Sermon on the Mount ( Matthew 5:3-10 ). 
• The beautiful vision of God’s law being taught to all humanity during Christ’s millennial reign ( Isaiah 2:3 ).
• The beauty of the coming Kingdom of God ( Revelation 22:1-5 ).

View media of what God has deemed lovely. Watch videos of people performing acts of kindness, as well as uplifting media of good triumphing over evil without the add-ons of the worst of human nature. Search for social media accounts that focus on people helping other people. 

Walk outside in God's creation and notice all the sights and sounds He created for us to enjoy.

Walk outside in God’s creation and notice all the sights and sounds He created for us to enjoy.

Ask God to help you find and discern the lovely media that is available. When you find something lovely, share it with your friends!

To think what is lovely, try not to:

Believe this world’s confused ideas of what is lovely. Would God consider a movie lovely if it glorifies Halloween? Would God consider music lovely if the lyrics cause us to feel depressed? Would God consider a book lovely if the bad guy is made to look like the good guy? These are just a few questions to ask ourselves when considering entertainment. The more discerning we are now in understanding loveliness, the easier it will be to discern Satan’s tricky devices.

Follow your heart. The world tries to convince the youth, especially young ladies, that following your heart and emotions is always the right way to go. Following your heart sounds lovely, but the heart without guidance from God is deceitful ( Jeremiah 17:9 ). Feelings are not always true, and being led by them can lead to disaster! When you have decisions to make, discuss them with someone you trust. Be truthful about how you feel and ask for guidance so that your heart does not lead you down the wrong path.

Speaking what is lovely

To speak what is lovely, try to:

Be optimistic in conversations. Life has its ups and downs—sometimes things are going great, and other times things are challenging! It’s important to share the truth of our lives with others, and we can also include the positive things going on as well. Did rain cancel that baseball game you wanted to go to? Be sure to talk about the fun you had making an indoor fort with your family since you couldn’t go to the game. It takes effort to focus our speech on the positive when life doesn’t go our way.

"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken."

We should try to have a generally positive outlook, even when parts of life don’t go the way we want. The Bible tells us, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” ( Proverbs 15:13 ).

To speak what is lovely, try not to:

Focus on all the things that are going wrong. There are times when it feels like nothing is going right. You haven’t gotten to see your church friends in a long time, school is really hard, and it feels like your parents don’t understand you.

When we have strong emotions about something, it is easy to talk all about it. When that happens, take a moment to stop and think. Ask yourself, “What lovely things can I include in this conversation?”

It might take some time to consider, but even what we think of as lovely little things are worth including in conversation. Did you see a beautiful butterfly recently? Did your grandparents send you a sweet card with kind words? Is your bed super cozy? Do tell! One big, lovely thing always available to talk about is what you are looking forward to in the Kingdom!

Do what is lovely

Thinking or speaking what is lovely is a great start, but to really change our lives or those around us, we need to do more.

We can do our part to be lovely—to be a positive light or a bright spot in the lives of others ( 1 Peter 2:12 ). We can take the time to learn our friends’ likes and preferences and try to do something that shows we notice and care about them! We can even do this with total strangers by simply adding a compliment or some kind of positive comment in our interactions with them.

Meditate on what is lovely

We don’t have to pretend that ugliness is loveliness, and we don’t have to pretend that life is only optimism or beauty. But we can search for, find, and then focus on the loveliness that God has created and that already exists, and we can choose to focus on those things—things of “good report”—as we’ll learn in our next blog!