Whatever is Pure – Labor Day Laboring Fun

A podcast I enjoy listening to is called The Conversation with Adam Weber. In Episode 124, Adam visits with author/pastor Louie Giglio about Louie’s new book called Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. After listening, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the book. I’m not quite finished yet, but this book has earned the WOW award!

Just last night while reading, Louie recommended to use Philippians 4:8 as a compass, offering us many “categories to think about” (p. 135). We often defeat ourselves by thinking negative thoughts, and he tells us to take action and play offense by placing positive thoughts in our mind.

Philippians 4:8 says “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.” (NIV).

Giglio (2021) says to place helpful thoughts into your mind by memorizing Philippians 4:8 and thinking about these things. Ask yourself, ‘what are truthful, noble, right things you can think about right now? He suggests to go on the offensive by thinking about Philippians 4:8 first thing in the morning and throughout the whole day. Or, think about one category each day. Or…take one a week and journal all those things that come to mind that go along with that one category.

I woke up this morning with ‘whatever is pure’ on my heart. While still lying in bed I thought to myself…hmm…what is pure? Three things came mind…

*whole foods 🤷‍

*love and innocence of my grandchildren ❤

*and, being real and honest

Well, I was curious what the word pure meant so I jumped out of bed like a Poptart® out of the toaster and did a little word study on pure. Below are the fruits of my enjoyable Labor Day labor (laboring CAN be fun 😉)…

According to Dictionary.com, pure is defined as “not mixed or adulterated with any other substance or material; without any extraneous or unnecessary elements; free of contamination.” A pure person is defined as “without malice, treachery, or evil intent; honest, sincere, without deception.”

The Greek word for pure is hagnos or hagios which means “sacred (physically pure, morally blameless); properly clean, i.e. (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect; chaste, clean, pure” (Strong, 2007, p. 1599).

Oh, how I desire to be pure. I’m in no way perfect, but I can choose to do my best to be honest, sincere, and without deception! Louie, I’m taking your advice. I’m going to focus on whatever is pure this week and journal about it. I’ve got a good start today…the sunshine, the gentle breeze, sincere smiles from others, healthy foods, fun text messages from friends, and an honest pure joy in my heart at this moment in time! 😊🙏

Anyone want to join me on this exciting discovery? Which Philippians 4:8 category would you begin with?

Happy Labor Day, everyone. Sending you pure good wishes! 🙌💪🤎💛