Philippians 1:3-11, 19-26
If I am not living in Christ, I will not be living for Him.
“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). I am so blessed and encouraged by Christ’s tenacity in His work in me! He will not abandon His work in me so long as I remain yielded to Him. I. Am. His. Workmanship.
“Be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10). There’s that day again. Well, I want to be holy and without blame before Him on that day. And from now until that day as well. And I want to be “filled with the fruits of righteousness” (Philippians 1:11).
So I must “approve things that are excellent.” And I must yield to Him and His work in me. And I must abound in love (Philippians 1:9). And I need my fellow believers to pray for me (Philippians 1:9). And Christ must “be magnified in my body” (Philippians 1:20).
Living must mean Christ for me (Philippians 1:21). Christ must be my life. I must live by Him.
Anything less is nothing. Worse than that, actually. Because negative is worse than zero.
“Why live? Life is meaningless.” Words like that haunt me and I fret about anyone who would utter such a statement. I worry about the evident absence of hope, purpose, contentment, and peace. Even so, I think I can understand exactly.
When I get to the end of the day and I’m not sure that I got anything done, the meaning of living somehow seems to escape me. When relationships sour and problems mount, I wonder about the real significance of life. When the last four weeks were so much about meeting expenses and satisfying creditors, I have little doubt that life has got to offer more. So, while I may philosophically disagree with the life-is-meaningless sentiment, I find that in the daily crucible of experience, life can be shallow and insignificant.
Time to work on our focus and values! Start with Philippians 1:21 — “For to me to live is Christ.” God has left the choice to us. We can live as the unbeliever, or we can live for Christ, by Christ and because of Christ. The meaning, purpose and depth of living become the natural birthright of those who make the right choice.
Excerpted from To Live is Christ
Where does God fit in my life? If my God-consciousness is low, why should my praying be high?
Well, I grab a hold of Philippians 1:6 — “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Read the full piece: He’s Working on Me (and My Praying)
I mean, I do analyze and test such things, don’t I? If I don’t, how will I choose good over evil? And how I will choose that which is excellent?
Sometimes I know I accept something only because “there’s nothing wrong with it”…but it really doesn’t fall in the EXCELLENT category.
“That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10).
Read the full piece: Testing, Testing . . . .
Additional Reading (Philippians 1)
