Golden Girls

     I’m about to let you in on a secret.  You may want to take my man card.  I used to really like the TV show, “Golden Girls.”  Thank you for being a friend, you traveled down the road and back again. You had to love that theme song.  It was a good one.  I really loved how sarcastic they were. I’m glad that sarcasm didn’t rub off on me.  Whew, dodged that bullet!  

     A show like that resonates with us because we all want friends.  There’s nothing like a good friend.  Paul needed good friends in a difficult time in his life.  Timothy and Epaphroditus were the right guys at the right time.  What made them good friends to Paul?  Timothy genuinely cared about other people.  There is nothing like having a “friend” who only talks about themselves and doesn’t listen to your stories. It’s easy to be that kind of friend.  We all want someone to listen to us and encourage us and be interested in our stuff.  We can easily drift into everything always being about...US.  We don’t want a friend like that and guess what?  Our friends don’t want someone that only cares about themselves.  Timothy cared about others!  I would bet that Timothy was a positive person.  I’m sure he got discouraged.  We know he had an illness.  Paul wrote to encourage him.  There is a lesson to learn here.  People who put others first don’t get as easily discouraged because they don’t focus on themselves and therefore have the time to get down.  Understand this; it has to be a genuine concern for others.  A false sense of humility and service just leads to more frustration because we are not getting the praise and satisfaction we are craving.  

     Epaphroditus, we’ll call him Phro, was another great comrade.  Paul called him a brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”  There is nothing like a brother, they may argue with you and pick on you but when it comes time to get serious, they have your back.  We all feel complete when we have someone who will work beside us.  Nothing makes a tough job more bearable than having a co-worker.  Lastly, Phro was a fellow soldier.  Lasting bonds are made on the battlefield.  Men who served in wars like WWII still remain friends today even though years and miles separate them.  When you face death together and sacrifice together, whether physically or spiritually, it forms an unbreakable bond.  We need people to fight the good fight along side us. 

     So, what do we do?  Do we go in search of this kind of friend?  I believe if you do, that you will be frustrated.  The better course is to seek to be that kind of friend to others.  Going back to Kindergarten, the best way to have a friend is to be a friend.  We forget that along the way sometimes.  The church needs more friends to stand beside each other.  So go get your Sophia, Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy and live a little life. 

Quit Yer Complainin'!

     I get the feeling that Paul thinks Christians will argue.  What would ever give him that idea?  Christians get a bad rap for arguing.  Don’t get me wrong, we do it.  Sometimes over the silliest things.  I’ve been around long enough to know that people will fight in the Volunteer Fire Department, the Ruritans, at work, and any other place you get a few together.  So why does the world spend so much time talking about when the church fights?  Because even they know that we should know better.  You can question their motives as to why they critique us, but the truth remains that we should know better and we’ve been given a greater responsibility.

     The Philippian church seems to have been a “good” church.  They don’t get the scathing rebukes that the Galatians get.  Paul is hammering in the idea that they must get along.  What is so important about us getting along?  Paul ties it to their salvation!  He previously reminded them of Christ’s attitude and how they were to take on Christ’s attitude.  Then he moves right in and challenges them to work our their salvation!  That’s a heavy task!  God’s grace saves us, but have no doubt, we are players in the game too!  Our faith is required and the Bible is tireless in teaching us that faith is an active faith!  Not merely belief.  The demons acknowledge the truth about God.  Paul says here in chapter 2 that God is working in us to carry out our salvation.  When we choose to do the opposite of the good He is leading us towards, we are fighting GOD!

     What sin does Paul and the Holy Spirit choose to focus on when he teaches us about working on our salvation?  Murder, theft, adultery, or homosexuality?  No. Good old arguing and complaining.  Those two sins are just as deadly as any other when we don’t give Jesus lordship over them.  Complaining and arguing are toxic in the church and sadly, many people don’t even feel a tinge of guilt when they perpetrate them against a brother, sister, preacher, or elder.  

     If I want to be blameless and pure, I must cease complaining and arguing!  That’s a tough pill to swallow.  Some people believe that is their spiritual gift!  There are others that think they are doing a service to the church by keeping a “voice of reason” around.  If there were not some negativity around, imagine what would happen!  But Paul and God teach us that when we complain, fight, and argue, our light for Christ in this world dims.  If the church is going to shine light and save people from Hell, we must live at peace with one another.  Make no mistake, we must follow the Bible in the church.  We can’t remain silent when people are teaching falsehood.  Think about this; are most arguments and complaints in the church about Biblical truth?  Or are they about personalities, opinions, traditions, and preferences?  

     When you feel the urge to complain, nitpick, argue or cause a hubbub (I like that word), stop.  Remember, when we fight unnecessarily we cause Jesus to blend in to the scenery of this world.  With enough complaining He might just disappear in our life.  Think about the people that have influenced you for Jesus.  Do you want them to fear that they labored for nothing?  That all their life sacrificing for you to know Jesus was meaningless?  How about the people that you are influencing?  When your brothers and sisters in Christ, your neighbors, your children, grandchildren, or parents look at you, do you want them to be closer to or farther away from Jesus.  I bet you feel like Paul.  You would be willing to give it all to help someone get to heaven.  So start with your opinion.  If it’s not building someone up and it’s not a matter of spiritual life and death, talk to the Lord about it.  I bet he can do more about it than Bertha at the grocery store.  Shine your light!  

We are Family!

     Have you ever known that guy (or girl) that just says whatever comes to their mind?  The no filter type.  They just let it pour out and there's no holding back.  That sums up the Apostle Paul.  Paul is not one for beating around the bush.  He certainly doesn't here.  Paul is trying to impress a point.  It's one that I try to miss.  It's an uncomfortable one that he pressed yesterday.  He won't let up today.  Again with the unity.  To rub it in, he states, "IF you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, IF any comfort from His love...fellowship with the Spirit...tenderness...compassion, then be united with each other!  Come on!  Make us feel guilty, why don't ya?  It is a valid point isn't it?  He reminds a bunch of blood bought, grace saved sinners that they had a debt they could not pay and yet they were set free.  We need that same reminder.  Of course we have been encouraged by our life in Christ, we definitely have been comforted by His love.  No doubt we've experienced fellowship that can only happen through the Spirit.  So then, do we have a unified mind with other Christians?
     Do we treat our church family like family or are they just casual acquaintances?  Do we tolerate them for a couple of hours a week or do we cherish them, warts and all?  We put up with a lot from our blood family and overlook quite a bit.  But truly our Christian family is blood!  In many ways we can be closer to the church than our natural family!
     How do we become like-minded?  We have to be on the same page!  Actually the same book.  We must be grounded in the Word together.  A church will always be at odds if the standard is not God's Word.  If we all have our own opinions, we'll never agree. If we study the Word together, we'll grow together.
     If we study together, we will begin to love who and how God loves.  Something I pray quite a bit, is for God to help me see people the same way He does.  To love them like He does.  The more we see how lost we are without Jesus, the more it helps us see the great need of others.  Our purpose becomes His.  We begin to be about the most important thing in the world. Introducing people to their Savior.
     Then the toughest part comes.  Putting ourselves last.  Even more difficult is putting others first.  They aren't as good as us.  Do you know their personality?  How about what they used to do?  Or still do?  But God never graded on a curve.  All are unworthy and all are still loved.  Then Paul pours a little salt in the wound.  Act like Jesus.  If you think you don't have to humble yourself, are you better than Jesus?  We wouldn't say that out loud, but we often act that way.  I know I do.  He is God, but he emptied himself of power for a while.  All to be like us; to become one of us, to die for us.
     If Jesus could do that for you, don't you think others deserve to know that good news?  If we can humble ourselves and try to love our brothers and sisters and the lost people we come in contact with everyday, the world would be much better.  Not only would we change eternity, but we would even improve this life!  So, have you gotten anything from being in Jesus' family?  Then start acting like family!  Let's stop going to church and start being the church!  The world is watching, let's show them how family acts!
                                                        Read Philippians 2:1-11

Well, here we go....again.

I am beginning a new undertaking.  This is more for me and that's good since I am probably the only one who will ever read these words.  In the sense of my blog and it's readers, I AM LEGEND.   I only have myself to blame. I have followed a vicious cycle of posting and not posting due to the fact that I have a fairly busy life with 4 kids and and a wife and now a dog and a cat.  When I didn't feel that my efforts were being read,  I thought that there wasn't sufficient reason to devote the time to write.

Well, enough of that. Here's my attempt at regrouping and launching a counter-assault.  In an effort to spice up my devotional life I am going to attempt to study a passage of scripture and then write my thoughts down every day and post them to my blog. It challenges me to put some real thought into my Bible Study and if someone else stumbles on them...gravy.  So here's to new beginnings that hopefully last more than one day.  I'm hoping putting this on the web will shame me into accountability.  I'm beginning with Philippians. I'll post the first one tomorrow.  Here goes!
Tune in Wednesday, May 8th.