Philippians 1-4

If we view Paul’s words as God’s blank check to us, empowering us to do whatever we set our minds to do, we are ignoring the context of Paul’s words and the fact that we often set our minds on the wrong thing. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5, ESV).

God does not give us a blank check, but we must give God a blank check with the assurance that whatever he enters into the amount payable, he will empower us to pay it. “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, ESV).

Through Christ, we can face life or death. Each year over 25,000 people in America apparently find it easier to take their own lives than to face life itself. Others to not destroy themselves in one decisive act but commit suicide slowly through destructive lifestyles. Christians often struggle to face life, but fear of hell keeps them from committing suicide or dropping out of life. Instead, they may fantasize of a grand and glorious, providential death that takes them out in a blaze of glory. Paul knew because he had learned it by experience, that life is always easier when faced one day at a time. “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Through Christ, we can overcome opposition and apathy. Most living creatures, including humans, have a built-in flight-or-fight mechanism that is triggered when faced with danger. Danger triggers the adrenal gland to start pumping epinephrine into the bloodstream. Opposition brought out the best in Paul and others. “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear (Philippians 1:12-14).

In contrast to opposition, which often brings out the best, apathy is more likely to cause us to yaw and take a nap than it is to cause us to fight or flee. In both cases the empowerment for overcoming is not derived from the power of positive thinking—you can if you think you can, but from the power of Christ dwelling in our hearts. “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Through Christ, we can live in the present. Paul’s forgetting what was behind and pressing toward the prize did not mean that he was not living in the present— “I press,” he said (present tense). There are three things that allow us to live in the present while looking to the future in hope: Dedication—counting all gained outside of Christ as rubbish. Direction—reaching forward, which keeps us from wandering in circles, as did Israel in the wilderness. Determination—the internet is filled with quotations from coaches to presidents who extol the virtues of these three, but the difference is in the prize. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

The secret of life is taking it one day at a time:
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m askin’ of you
Just give me the strength
To do every day what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord, help me today, show me the way
One day at a time

CONNECTIONS

1. Sometimes we should flee and sometimes we should fight. It takes wisdom to know which. What are you facing from which you should flee? What are you facing against which you should fight?