The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 332


The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 332

Philippians 1 New King James Version (NKJV)
Striving and Suffering for Christ (Verses 27-30)
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God

Conduct, in God’s children, is one of being of good report within the church and in the vision of the world’s people around us. [ The Value of a Good Name ] A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1). Through training in the Word of God, we reckon ourselves dead to the deeds of the world and alive to the fruit of the Spirit of God. Why? The most important revelation to the world is that your conduct represents the Good News of the Christ/Messiah.

With all the children of God, we are to be ONE in faith and ONE in Christ, that as the apostle says—“from a distance I hear that you are standing firm, united with Messiah in the Spirit, fighting with the same faith and in accord with one another; Having the same hope and the same love.” We strive spiritually to be found pleasing to the Christ/Messiah at all times and in the public eye we do very well. However, what about our ‘mental attitude’? While we may be very pleasing in our outward actions and ‘churchy verbiage’ we can and often be ravenous wolfs on the inside. This is what the apostle refers to earlier in verses 15-16 of chapter one.

Our conduct than cannot be worthy of the glory of God, since from the outward appearance we appear godly, but our inward mental attitude smells like the ointment from a container left open to germ-carrying flies – Ecclesiastes 10:1. I am convinced that one of the very first things people observe in us when they meet us is what we want them to see. That is until they begin to see the inner working of our heart. A critical spirit cannot be hidden for very long.

Well, praise the LORD; this is not the conduct of the The Philippian church as a whole, yet the apostle being aware that anyone with a mental attitude to avoid the suffering that comes with the right relationship with the Messiah is warned by him, to stand fast, that whether he comes to Philippi or stays away, that he will always hear that ‘conduct’ among the children of God is that they are standing fast in the Good News. It will always be ‘Good News’ to the unbelieving heart when the person expressing the Good News is not encumbered with mental attitude sins. Meditate on 1 John 4:17-19. Without faith there is ‘no hope’, without faith and hope, there is ‘no love’ and we have forgotten that the Christ/Messiah FIRST loved us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 535

  The Devotiona l – Search the Scriptures – 535 Today’s Kick -Start! Psalm 119   149  Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Lord , revive me according to Your justice. 150  They draw near who follow after wickedness; They are far from Your law. 151  You are near, O Lord , And all Your commandments are truth. 152  Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever. 1 John 3:10-15 (NKJV) Righteousness is Thee Expression of Love 10  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11  For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12  not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13  Do not marvel, my brethren, if the...
Read more

The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 399

The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 399 A Bible snippet—and more Genesis 22:7-8 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 7  Yitzchak (Isaac) spoke to Avraham (Abraham) his father: “My father?” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8  Avraham (Abraham) replied, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”; and they both went on together. John 1:29 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 29  The next day, Yochanan (John) saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! 30  This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ 31  I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.” The Christ/Messiah – Is The LORD – [AND] He is Risen As we have sa...
Read more

The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 740

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 740 Today’s Kick Start! – (NKJV) Isaiah 46  4 Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you. Personal Obedience—Walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the deeds of the flesh. Acts 5  12  And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 1 3  Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14  And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15  so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16  Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spiri...
Read more