A beautiful mind - Lovely (Part 6)
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. Song of solomon 2:3
Lovely is often used to describe things and people that bring us delight and pleasure. For instance, we will thank people for a lovely evening, which implies we enjoy their company. We often describe things that give us pleasure, such as how lovely the cat is, or how lovely the music is, etc! Lovely gives me a sense of sweetness and something that tickles my heart every time I use it.
In Philippians 4:8, the word lovely is made up of two Greek words. One is the word “toward” and the other is phileo, which means “friendly love”. What makes your best friends your best friends? When you spend time with your best friend, you just feel pleasure and delight. Maybe you share similar values, you understand each other, and spending time together just makes you feel good.
Our Godly thinking is characterized by eight attributes, but they are all centered around one common theme: Jesus. In a way, thinking of Jesus as our best friend gives us a lovely feeling. Jesus says I have called you friends. (John 15:15) Along with His preaching and healing, you will always find Jesus hanging out with people, enjoying boat trips and BBQs during His ministry.
It is evident that Jesus enjoys lovely relationships and God's creation, particularly God sees that His creation is good. One thing I would like to point out is that God wants us to enjoy our lives, so He created breathtaking nature, beautiful music, food, sports, and art, and it is not wrong to think and engage in these pleasurable and leisure activities. As long as these pleasing things and activities draw us closer to God and are in line with the eight attributes, we can think about them. There is good and bad in everything, just keep in mind that the enemy likes to twist the pleasant things into idols.
Lastly, relationships make life lovely. In truth, only relationships last eternally, not things nor hobbies for they are temporary. With lovely thoughts in our hearts, we can be relational like Jesus, who loves to serve and spends time with others. We will conform to His image of compassion and love for those around us.
As long as Jesus is our primary focus and in our thoughts, people and things in life will be delightful and lovely. God is pleased to give us joy in His presence and pleasure at His right hand forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)
Blessing prayer: Jesus, you are our best friend and you are so lovely! It is our delight to involve you as we do all these lovely things with you. . In Jesus’ name, Amen
