29.05 | Simple Things On Repeat
Philippians 4:2-23
‘What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.’
Philippians 4:9
I love long distance running. I’m fairly average at it, but the basic human ability to cover significant distances on foot gives me pleasure. Running is where I pray and process and think. Running is often a place of creative ideas for me. When I run, I find, through its simple rhythm, those things in life that give me anxiety diminish, and those things of greater priority fall into place—like a jar full of rocks and pebbles and sand when shaken.
The funny thing with running nowadays is how much information there is about it. Running blogs, running podcasts, running theories and approaches. Dietary plans, sprint training—even new trainers that promise you to move faster and more efficiently. While there is some truth in all (or most of) these things, at a basic level, without getting out of the door and simply getting running, you’ll never see any actual improvement. The best way to get good at running is by running. Improvement happens by doing the simple things on repeat.
The words today paint a picture of the most unbelievably beautiful life.
Endless rejoicing. Zero anxiety. Peace that surpasses understanding. Abounding in every circumstance. Able to do all things.
If you’re looking for some good memory verses, Philippians 4 is a feast.
But it can also feel like watching a world-beating marathon runner—seeing the easy rhythm of her gait or the extraordinary speed of his feet. It can feel like reading a blog about how to live well, before going back to the grunting and sweating and stitches of our own occasional jog around the block.
But Paul’s point is not to show off something that is unattainable. It is to invite them into the simple imitation of what he has simply modelled.
Practice these things.
Because practising the simple things, on repeat, provides the environment in which the Spirit of God releases the extraordinary in the life of the believer.
Let’s take three of these simple practices:
Rejoice always. Choose to give thanks. Choose to sing and return your heart to gratitude, in the good times and the bad. While we often fear the inauthentic song of praise, when we learn to express gratitude and love for God, in both the good and hard seasons, something gradually changes in the atmosphere of a soul. A different quality of joy develops in the heart that does not merely reserve gratitude for times of comfort, but chooses to bring it in the midst of pain.
Turn your anxieties to prayer. Prayer doesn’t need to be a long and flowery piece of polished rhetoric. Those don’t tend to be very good prayers, at least according to Jesus.1 Rather, make a daily practice of naming those things you hope for, and simply telling Him those things you worry about. A great, and so often neglected, part of prayer is the simple act of telling God how we are feeling, and simply asking for His help.
Fill your mind. We often have more agency here than we think. What we choose to watch or listen to or read. The little decisions we make when we get up in the morning, or how we fill our time waiting in the coffee shop queue. Such moments are not neutral in your formation. Rather, they are priceless opportunities to engage the day-by-day, moment-by-moment turning of the heart towards the things of beauty and goodness and life. Fill your mind with that which is true and honourable and pure and good.
Christian transformation is actually not that complicated. So often it plays out in ten million tiny choices rather than in a few great moments.
Tie up your laces. You’re going to do it imperfectly. But each little word of thanks, each little prayer, each little investment in your thought life, when partnered by the living Spirit of God, incrementally nudge our lives ever more in the direction of glory.
It’s simple things, on repeat.
Reflect:
Rejoicing. Prayer. Fill your mind.
Which do you need to practice most right now?
Simply, imperfectly, begin.
Pray:
Father,
I’m often looking for the magic pill,
The transformation formula,
The killer new programme,
That will bring extraordinary change,
Through (if I’m honest) minimal effort.
And yet,
I see today,
That great effort may be less important,
That steady consistency.
Consistent gratitude,
Consistent asking for help;
And consistent turning of my mind to the things of beauty.
It’s so simple.
And so, Father,
I give you again my simple little choices,
And I ask you,
In these tiny moments,
To meet this frazzled and anxious and distorted soul,
With the renewing presence of your Holy Spirit,
That I may be daily renewed,
Into the fullness of life with you.
I cannot do it alone,
And yet,
I can do all things with you who strengthens me.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
1 Kings 12-13 | Psalm 69:30-36
See Matthew 6:5