A Life Worthy

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your–

Please. No

Paul’s not talking about happy-clappy-fakey-smiley-insipid nonsense.  

Because sometimes life hurts.  

A lot

If ever a man knew that, it was Paul.  Beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, betrayal, imprisonment–not exactly moments of fluff and delight.

And yet he rejoiced.  How did he do that?

How can we?

It comes down to counting your blessings.  Look, I know how tired and worn out that phrase is, but the concept does work.  If I stop to enumerate all the ways God has shown his love for me, the list becomes quite long and my mood much improved.

Or, if you’re in a bit of a hurry, you can go for the shortcut list:

#1 The God of the Universe knows me completely, and loves me completely.

Uh…sorry…did you need a #2?

It’s Thursday.  Rejoice, Beloved.

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord (Philippians 4:2-3).

When believers argue and fight 

the lost mock 

and laugh

and everyone

loses.

They will know we are Christians by our love, 

Beloved.

Happy Tuesday

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:21).

Paul isn’t trying to body shame you.

He has no idea when you last went to the gym, or Fatty Burger Barn, and he doesn’t care.

His point is, when Jesus comes for us, we will be transformed.  The aches, the pains, the flab, the laugh lines, the frown lines, the receding hairlines, the fading eyesight, the flaring back pain, the bags, the sags, the general raising of our cholesterol and lowering of our center of gravity–all of it will be gone.

Poof

We will be given a body like Jesus has.

I don’t know exactly what that will be like, but my extensive research and decades of Biblical education lead me to this deepest of theological insights:

It will be better.

So, as you haul your bacon out of bed today, remember the promise:

You are going to be amazing.

You are going to be glorious.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need a donut.

And a nap.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ… (Philippians 3:20)

Eagerly

Like a little kid on the last day of school

Like a puppy at the back door when the neighbor’s cat is in the yard

Like an office worker at 4:59

That’s how you think I’d be, contemplating the arrival of the Most Important

Person Ever.

But I’m not…at least, not often.

Not enough

Oh, the reasons are many–busyness, stress, the surreality of it all.

But the fact remains

I’m not.

How about you?

Hey, whoa, look, I’m not going for guilt here.  You manufacture enough guilt on your own; you definitely don’t need my help.  Besides, we serve a God of redemption, of transformation, not of guilt. 

Then what are you doing, Michael?

I’m trying to remind you–us–that we can have that eagerness.  We can have that excitement. You see, the kid on Christmas morning is excited because he has been obsessing about these presents for weeks.  He has been thinking and wondering and imagining and picturing himself with his new Nifty Zoom 3000.  It’s filled his eight-year-old brain, the same way the neighbor’s cat fills the dog’s brain.

Such as it is.

So here’s the challenge, Beloved of Christ. Think about Him today. Not only in prayer, but in your mental down time. Your in-between moments. Imagine what it will be like when he comes to you, when he transforms you, when you stand before him clean and whole and forgiven and bathed in his perfect love. Dwell on it today, and see if that doesn’t produce a little eagerness.

But don’t drool.  Your dog can pull that off–you can’t.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19).

Even with tears.

That’s the part that gets me.

Paul was not exulting over his enemies.  He wept over them, because he knew the truth.

They weren’t really his enemies.

They were Christ’s.

And as such, they were utterly, thoroughly lost.

We all know people like this, folks who are far more concerned with their stuff life than their spiritual life.  We shake our heads in their general direction, we sigh at their shallowness, we may even pity them.

But do we weep?

Do I weep?

Father God, give me your eyes, your tears, your heart today.  Let me care–no matter how much it hurts.

Happy Monday, Beloved