Philippians 1:3-6

Passage

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.  In each and every prayer of mine I thank God for you and thus make my prayer in joy.  I thank God because you have been my partner in the Gospel from the first day.  I am convinced of this: the God who began a good work in you will see it through to its completion in the day of Jesus Christ. 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

There is a joy that comes from knowing that you will see a person in eternal life.  There is a joy that comes in knowing that you are relating to a person spiritually through God as opposed to through their humanity.  There is a joy in knowing that you are surrounded by people who have submitted to God.  There is a joy that comes in knowing that the people you have seen grow in the faith have grown in the true faith of God.

Do you know this joy?  How deeply do you know it if you do know it?  If you don’t know it, do you know someone who does?  How can this joy increase in you?

Second Thought:

 The Philippians were with Paul since day one.  Now, of course, not literally.  Paul did a fair amount of ministry before he got to Philippi.  What Paul is saying is that the Philippians embraced what Paul was teaching from the first day.  That doesn’t mean that they didn’t struggle with it.  It doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any wrestling.  It means, however, that they were inclined to receive it, wrestle with it, and accept it as God’s.  They were open to God from the first day Paul came to them and proclaimed Jesus among them.

What helps you be open to God?  What hinders your openness to God?  How much of a credit is Paul giving to the Philippians for saying that they have been open to God the whole time?

Third Thought:

Paul tells the Philippians that God is at work in them.  In fact, Paul is telling them that God at work is the most important thing.  They may be in relationship with Paul, but it is God who is going to bring them to completion in the day of Christ.  It is God who completes them.  It is God who should be trusted.  It is in God that we should put our trust.

Is your hope within God?  Is your trust fully and completely in Him?  Is He what you think of when you think of yourself being completed?

Passage for Tomorrow: Philippians 1:7-11