A Life Worthy

Tag: Philippians

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 11/26/14

    number 1I thank my God every time I remember you (Philippians 1:3).

    We all have them.

    You know, those people who are a pure blessing.  The ones who bring undiluted joy to our lives.  The very thought of them makes us grin.

    You’re thinking about yours right now.

    Take a few moments this morning to thank God for those people.  Let your smile grow wide and your heart full.  Praise the One who loves you, because he knows you need these people, and he puts them in your heart to bless you.

    He could work in you without them.

    But he chooses to use them.

    Just as he uses you in them.

    Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 7/9/14

    number 1…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

    You’re not who you want to be.

    I get that—neither am I.

    That “not being who you want to be” business, yeah, that causes stress.

    I get that, too.

    And frankly, if it were up to you to become the strong, caring, mature child of God that you want to be, I’d tell you to pack it in.  It ain’t gonna happen, my friend.

    But it’s not up to you.

    Hear that, Beloved.  It is not up to you.

    You are in the hands and heart of your creator, and he is an artist without compare.

    I have heard that great sculptors can look at a block of stone or wood or clay and see the finished work before they even begin.  It’s like that with God.  He looks at you—lumpy blob of clay that you are—and he sees a work of such beauty, such grace, such power that it will bring tears to the eyes.  All he needs is a little time to bring the beauty from the blob.  He will not forget you.  He will not get bored with you and wander off to watch TV or make nachos.  He will stick with you until his vision is realized, until you are complete.

    So don’t stress because you’re not “there” yet.  You don’t even know where “there” is.  Just let God keep doing what he’s doing.

    Because what he’s doing is fantastic.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 7/8/14

    number 1And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

    Here’s the payoff.

    I told you yesterday that when you release your stress and worries to God he would give you something in return.  Well, here it is.

    Peace.

    Oh, so very much better than stress.

    So let’s break this down a bit…

    The peace of God It comes from him.  It is at his command.  You can’t manufacture it; you can’t go and find it.  It is his gift—another form of the grace by which you have been saved.

    Which transcends all understanding Like God’s grace, like his love for us, this peace makes no worldly sense.  Why should you have peace when your life is a teeming, steaming mess?  And yet like his grace, like his love, he gives us this priceless gift because it brings him pleasure and glory.  It’s one of those things I can never get my brain around, but I can get my heart around.  That’s enough.

    Will guard your hearts and your minds Stress is a dangerous thing.  It results from—and produces—a powerful need to control our circumstances.  Left to ourselves, this quest for control can lead us into a whole bucketful of sins.  Left to ourselves, the realization that we have no control can plunge us into despair.  So God sets his peace around you like a bodyguard, protecting you from the attacks of your enemies—those outside and inside.

    In Christ Jesus We only have peace because of the cross.  We are reconciled to God by and through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and our peace is possible only through him and in him.

    Take his peace this morning.  Receive this gift that he offers.  I call it a gift, but it will cost you something.  It will cost you your façade of power, the cardboard cutout you call control.  Offer it up to him.  He’ll take it from you.  For you.

    Now.

    Release it to him, Beloved.  This illusion that you can manipulate your life, your circumstances, the people around you, it’s got you locked in a cycle of fruitless striving and perpetual despair.  Let God break the cycle—break you, if necessary.

    It will leave you feeling insanely, foolishly vulnerable.

    You will be safer than you have ever imagined.

  • One-a-Day Friday, 2/7/14

    number 1 …to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:11b)

    It was all for the Father’s glory.

    Exalted to the highest place…

    given the name above all names…

    every knee bowing…

    every tongue confessing him Lord.

    Looking back at this week’s verses, it seems that Christ’s whole purpose is to obey, and by obeying glorify, the Father.  Yes, he came to die for us, but isn’t that also serving the higher purpose of glorifying God? He came, he died, he rose, to bring the Father glory.

    For God so loved the world that he sent his Son…

    Never has there been a life more worthy.

    So, Beloved of Christ.  What within you is “to the glory of God the Father?”  What within you cries out to obey, and by obeying glorify, him?

    Listen to that something.

    Follow that something.

     

    Have a good Friday.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 2/6/14

    number 1…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord… (Philippians 2:11a)  

    I am so looking forward to this.

    Just imagine it.  Everyone who has ever mocked Christianity, everyone who has ever scoffed at the idea of Creationism, everyone who has ever lived a life that blasphemed the King of All—every last one will confess Jesus as Lord.

    I know I shouldn’t gloat, and hopefully when the moment comes I will be too awestruck to gloat, but right now…thinking about it…

    Let’s just call it reason #86 to be glad I’m not God.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 2/5/14

    number 1…that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in Heaven, on Earth, and under the earth… (Philippians 2:10)

    We’re not real big on kings here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

    Bowing the knee to anyone sort of sticks in our collective craw.  After all, we fought a revolution to chuck the King of England over the side of the boat, and we haven’t missed him much.  We’re an independent, self-sufficient, stand-on-your-own-two-feet kind of people.

    But we’re gonna bow—all of us.

    Californians will bow.

    New Yorkers will bow.

    Republicans will bow.

    Democrats will bow.

    Angels will bow.

    Demons will bow.

    Your neighbor will bow.

    You, my friend, will bow.

    The question of the day is this: How does that make you feel?  Do you (A) shift uncomfortably at the thought of giving up the last wisps of the illusion of independence, (B) tremble with joy at the thought of finally kneeling before the king of the universe, or (C) offer a halfhearted “meh” and go about your business?

    Far be it from me to intrude, but may I suggest that if your answer is anything other than (B) you spend some time in conversation with the One to whom you will one day bow?  It might make the whole experience more pleasant.

    Just a thought.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 2/4/14

    number 1…and gave him the name that is above all names…  (Philippians 2:9b)

    We know him by many names.

    Jesus Christ

    Alpha

    Omega

    Emmanuel

    I Am

    Lamb of God

    Prince of Peace

    Mighty God

    Light of the World

    The Bright Morning Star

    Wonderful Counselor

    The Amen

    Man of Sorrows

    Lion of the Tribe of Judah

    The Word

    The Author and Finisher of Our Faith

    Bread of Life

    Living Water

    God calls him by another name, the name which is above all names.

    Son.

    And here’s something really crazy.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice, do you know what God now calls us?

    Yes, you do.

    How can that be?  What can that mean?

    Chew on that today.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 1/30/14

    number 1Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  (Philippians 2:6-7)  

    He was perfect.

    Complete.

    He knew everything

    Had everything

    Was everything

    Everything that has ever been was made with the thought of his heart and the breath of his mouth.

    But he stepped down from all that into a broken world.  A world of

    Dirt

    And pain

    And tears

    And blood

    And death

    For you

    For me.

    That is the attitude to which we are called, Beloved.  We step into that same world today.  We may know

    Dirt

    And pain

    And tears

    And blood

    And death

    For them

    For Him.

    Are you up to the challenge?

    Me neither.

    Let’s pray for each other today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 1/29/14

    number 1Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)

    No pressure here—just have the same attitude as the Lord of the Universe.  Tomorrow we will look at what Paul means by an attitude, “The same as that of Christ Jesus.”  For today, just consider this: God has called you—commanded you—to be like him.

    Chew on that today.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 1/28/14

    number 1Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  (Philippians 2:3)

    But they’re not.

    Better than you, that is.

    Seriously, isn’t it hard to consider others better than yourself when you know the way they live? When you hear the way they speak and see how they act?  Does God really expect you to put…them before your own needs and wants?

    Yep