Tuesday,
January 28, 2020
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy. Philippians 2:12-18
The diligent Christian life may
seem rather dull by worldly standards. TV
or the big screens, novels, and current media trends show exciting stuff as
what makes for a great life, going here and there, being powerful and noticed
often on Facebook, or being the best looking, richest, or most influential in
today’s culture. By comparison with
worldly standards a Jesus follower is tame and judged boring.
Question: Can the world ever get things more wrong?
Now it’s obvious that the church,
imperfect as it is, doesn’t always get things right, but the message of the
Head of the Church is one of peace and life, not violence and death. The so-called more interesting life
according to worldly standards has quite the opposite message. We live in a time of unprecedented (and
escalating) violence and anger. A news
report listed a total of 11,843 homicides from 1999-2016, an average of
nearly 700 deaths by shooting per year.
By comparison, the disciplined
Christian life is a study in the opposite of self-interest, personal pleasure,
and getting angry if you don’t get what you want. Rather, it is a preoccupation with preserving
and protecting life, and being gentle with others always, even if you must give
up your “rights” to do so. Here is how
the Head of the church stated that categorically:
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
For
You Today
The disciplined Christian life may seem tame, unassuming and less
than scintillating to the worldly mind.
However, it is hardly boring to the one who gives self over to Christ,
has his mind opened to the Master, who, in His beauty and majesty, is
powerfully changing the future into a time where lambs can lie down with the
lions, and swords will be beaten into plowshares[1].
That, for any violence-weary mind, is as exciting as it gets!
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
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