Philippians 1:1-11
First I am going to start to post messages hopefully every day within line with a bible study that I am leading. Anyone is more than welcome to post responses. If you would like the study email me philligo@butler.edu and I will send it to you. I also have trouble with grammar so please excuse me for this. We read Philippians 1:1-11 and questions today to reflect upon were -how often do you give thanks for the family of believes that are in your life?-in difficult situations how do you make a decision?-How do you feel when you hear of a friend being saved? A complete stranger? My response
The love that Paul has for these people is extremely apparent. No one would be able to argue the fact that he truly cares about the development of these individuals. We see this become apparent in the third verse. The first question of reflection to me was a difficult one for I realized that I have not been grateful for the people in my life that have been helping me in my character development. That I actually sometimes try to avoid thinking about and seeing people that are fellow believers because that it would infringe upon my ambitions and goals for the day. For that I am deeply troubled. How am I able to understand and facilitate positive Christ centered relationships if I purposefully do not seek out time to build those relationships and then also thank God for them in my prayers.
We are in partnership with other Christians in a foreign land and alone we will be unable to live in accordance to the way Christ wants us to live. For when we accepted him he started a change that can only be created by surrounding ourselves with brothers and sisters in Christ who will work on the development of our Character unto "completion" that Paul is talking about. What completion? What is the end goal? What does God want us to be? We know that when we become a Christian, God starts a development and we then start to strive towards a goal. In second Peter 1:5-7 we see this good work that God started and is up to us to complete throughout the body of the spirit, and the events that we are apart of in life. " 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."
Are we walking down that path of transformation that God wants? Are we helping others around us on that transformation too? Or are we hindering ourselves and others by how we act and the people that we surround ourselves with? Asking these questions makes the second question even more difficult for the fact that Paul is praying for knowledge and incite for others and I am no certain if I have ever prayed that for myself or the friends that I have. When through difficult decisions I rarely rely on looking in the bible for angers or if I do it is because all of my other ideas are exhausted, yet that is where I can find the inside to discern the right answer and the places where I look first tend to dig me farther into that hole. Typically when I do have the incite to gain the knowledge of what is right in a situation that is the last thing that I want to do. (typically that is how you know that it is from God)
To understand the transformation for the completion of our souls under the grace of God we must surround our selves with fellow believers in Christ. We must also pray thanks giving for them and understand the vital role that they have in our walk. That is why finding a church home is so important. We must have a community of believers to help us through the foreign land that we are in. After we do find this community we must pray for the development of that community in line with the transformation that God wants to do in our lives. Reading and reflecting upon the 2 Peter verse that I referenced above I know that I have a great deal of work to do but with the guidance and help from this community and the power that God has to work in this world and in our lives I know that some day I can achieve, LOVE.
Please post any comments that you many have.
Phil
The love that Paul has for these people is extremely apparent. No one would be able to argue the fact that he truly cares about the development of these individuals. We see this become apparent in the third verse. The first question of reflection to me was a difficult one for I realized that I have not been grateful for the people in my life that have been helping me in my character development. That I actually sometimes try to avoid thinking about and seeing people that are fellow believers because that it would infringe upon my ambitions and goals for the day. For that I am deeply troubled. How am I able to understand and facilitate positive Christ centered relationships if I purposefully do not seek out time to build those relationships and then also thank God for them in my prayers.
We are in partnership with other Christians in a foreign land and alone we will be unable to live in accordance to the way Christ wants us to live. For when we accepted him he started a change that can only be created by surrounding ourselves with brothers and sisters in Christ who will work on the development of our Character unto "completion" that Paul is talking about. What completion? What is the end goal? What does God want us to be? We know that when we become a Christian, God starts a development and we then start to strive towards a goal. In second Peter 1:5-7 we see this good work that God started and is up to us to complete throughout the body of the spirit, and the events that we are apart of in life. " 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."
Are we walking down that path of transformation that God wants? Are we helping others around us on that transformation too? Or are we hindering ourselves and others by how we act and the people that we surround ourselves with? Asking these questions makes the second question even more difficult for the fact that Paul is praying for knowledge and incite for others and I am no certain if I have ever prayed that for myself or the friends that I have. When through difficult decisions I rarely rely on looking in the bible for angers or if I do it is because all of my other ideas are exhausted, yet that is where I can find the inside to discern the right answer and the places where I look first tend to dig me farther into that hole. Typically when I do have the incite to gain the knowledge of what is right in a situation that is the last thing that I want to do. (typically that is how you know that it is from God)
To understand the transformation for the completion of our souls under the grace of God we must surround our selves with fellow believers in Christ. We must also pray thanks giving for them and understand the vital role that they have in our walk. That is why finding a church home is so important. We must have a community of believers to help us through the foreign land that we are in. After we do find this community we must pray for the development of that community in line with the transformation that God wants to do in our lives. Reading and reflecting upon the 2 Peter verse that I referenced above I know that I have a great deal of work to do but with the guidance and help from this community and the power that God has to work in this world and in our lives I know that some day I can achieve, LOVE.
Please post any comments that you many have.
Phil
posted by Phillip Hilligoss at 11:23 AM
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