God Instructs the People of God
Listening for God in Changing Times:
Philippians 1:3-11
The Message (MSG)
A Love That Will Grow
3-6Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. 7-8It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.
Can you imagine what it must have been like in those first formative years of the Christian faith? How confusing it must have seemed to the new converts, to say nothing of the confusion Jews faced. Paul writes often to confirm their covenant relationships and to support their new found faith. Paul focuses them on the central issue, love. Still today Christianity can confuse. How does it help when you become confused to turn to that central principle, LOVE?
Pray
that you live a live a live guided by sincere love. Pray that you live a life that is attractive to all.
Hank, I always feel like we're having a personal, one on one conversation when I read your blog. That's how I've always felt when I hear a great sermon, as though it was designed specifically for me. I understand it resonates with other readers in the same way. Our Lord reaches many through you. Thank you.
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