Dave’s Monday Blast – February 8, 2021
Charles Colson: “If you don’t have something worth dying for you don’t have anything worth living for.”
William James: “The most important thing in life is to live your life for something more important than your life.”
Harold Kushner: “Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so the world will be a little bit different for our having passed through it.”
The Apostle Paul provides the biblical context to these statements in this Scripture:” For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
What all of these men are so passionately communicating is simply this: God created us for His purposes. What gives humankind purpose and value is living for “the greater progress of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). God desires for us to live our lives embracing His perspective; to see our circumstances through His eyes, to live joyfully in spite of any circumstances with which we are confronted.
How do we do this? Consider what the Spirit of God teaches us in Philippians 1:27-30.
1. STAND FIRM! “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel…” (1:27) Consistency – even when no one is looking!
2. STICK TOGETHER! “…I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (1:27) Community – cultivating relationships with spiritually healthy people!
3. STAY CONFIDENT! “...In no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (1:28 – 30) Christian Courage – because our God is for us!
The term alarmed literally pictures a horse shying away from the battlefield. We aren’t to go out looking for conflicts, but when they flare up, there is no reason to be fearful, hesitant, or shy as we provide an answer for the hope that is found in Christ.
