that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, - Philippians 1v10
This section of my thoughts is interesting because I am hearing a series Sunday fortnightly out of Philippians. I am having a hard time differentiating between the preacher’s thoughts and mine. (Insert a chuckle here)
I do remember this message a few weeks ago. We were challenged to adopt Paul’s spirit here and approve, or test the things that are excellent. The end result is that is we do that we will be sincere and without offence in our lives.
How does this work? Through years of homeschooling my wife always encouraged our children to aim for 100% on all their work. That way, she said, if they fell short at least they would be closer than they would have been. It is easy to settle for second best. I have had students who were content to settle for a passing grade. The way to be a good student is to always strive for the best.
Paul lets us know that the same truth is applicable for Christian living. The only way to be “sincere and without offence” is to test the excellent things and to strive after them. When we settle for second we are certain to fall short of the best.
We are all in the flesh. We all have to deal with that. We all blow it. But if we are trying out the excellent things instead of the mediocre we are sure to come far closer to achieving the kind of Christian life God expects.
2 comments:
Good thoughts. I've been reading an interesting book - 9 Things You Simply Must Do - and it address this as well. The author points out that God gifts us with talents and desires and sometimes we get caught up in doing what "is expected" rather than what He has truly gifted us to do. It's not that the expected things are not good things - they are just not EXCELLENT! Reminds me of a friend who wondered if she could really be a pastor's wife since she couldn't play the piano:>)
LOL on the final comment :)
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