“Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and the living God. Carry the light-giving message out into the night…” (Philippians 2:14-15 MSG).
Who are your role models? According to media reports, one has to look far and wide to hold up examples worth emulating. Next time you’re in the library with an hour to spare, look in the Biography section and notice the subjects from our current generation. What character qualities would you attach to that sampling? The last time I did this, more times than I cared to count, at least of hint of scandal is what created interest in these men and women. Some were outright scoundrels. We want to know more about the gossip, it seems, than how to make note of their heroic tendencies.
The apostle Paul, writing from prison for standing up for truth in a corrupt society, had time to reflect on right living. After describing Jesus’ humility and obedience, he turns to mere mortals to encourage us to “work out our own salvation” with more than a nod to accountability. He says, though he is not with them at present, they should act to please God, who is at work in them giving them the power and the desire to live holy lives. “Keep at it,” I hear him say between the lines. “Perform what I’ve taught you, so my time with you hasn’t been wasted.”
Isn’t that what all of us parents what from our own children? Don’t we want to know what we’ve taught them, directly or by example, made a difference in their choices and the quality of their adult lives? When they were living at home we expected obedience, in order to practice wise living, with a view that when they were on their own, it was second-nature. That was our hope.
“…redouble your efforts [now that I’m absent from you, Philippians]. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you. God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure” (v. 13).
That’s the call to grace. It’s when we aren’t merely marking things off a list or looking over our shoulders to see who’s checking up on us, but following our Godly impulse to act in accordance with everlasting truth. Today’s truth is no different from yesterday’s, in contrast to all we hear in our culture. I want to be a “breath of fresh air” and show glimpses of my God by my positive, still approach to life, practicing what I’ve been taught in the pages of His Word. I want to feel the pleasure of my Heavenly Father. The night is almost over.
Just Because
Everlasting Father, Lord of all truth, much wiser than I can know. Daily, let me respond to that God-energy deep within so I might please You, above all. Help me work out this gift of salvation Christ gave me, with reverence and a sensitive will. Let me do this readily, with no self-conscious second-guessing. May the sweet bouquet of Your life be imparted wherever You send me. And when I fail, help me up. And tell me again, how You love me. Just because.
Who Am I?
…Who am I that the bright and morning star would choose to light my way?
Not because of who I am…or because of what I’ve done, but because of who You are.
I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean…
Still…Lord, You catch me when I’m falling,
And You’ve told me who I am.
I am Yours.
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