For the last few weeks we have been reading through the book of Philippians together. One of the marks of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi is that he is proud of them and finds great joy in the way they are living out their faith. C.S. Lewis wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” It seems as though the church at Philippi lived this quote. They allowed their faith to impact the way they viewed everything about their world. Yet, Paul encourages them to "work out their salvation with fear and trembling." How does that exhortation hit you? What does it mean to work out your salvation? Paul also says to do so "without complaining or arguing."
When you are working on something that is difficult, how long is it before you complain?
Does hard work or great effort cause you to be short tempered?
If it does, and it often does for me, why is that our response? Let's think this through a bit more as we look at Philippians 2:12-18 this Sunday. Listen to your conversations this weekend and see how often what you say is a complaint even when it doesn't need to be?
Readings: Philippians 2:12-18 and Matthew 5:13-16
Bulletin: August 31, 2014
No comments :
Post a Comment