Prayer for a good Christian life
This week's study is on Philippians 1:9-11:
It's nice to be reminded of the basics from time to time. In these verses, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi. He talks about their value to him and says some encouraging things. And then he shares his prayer for them.
The prayer sums up what we should aspire to as Christians: We should love more. And our love should include knowledge and insight. And that knowledge and insight should be put into practice so that we can have the instinct to be able to discern the right choices in life. And that comes from knowledge of Christ and a relationship with him.
We all need to love more. I'm constantly humbled by how much love the people around me have, especially when I am in clear need. I like to think I'd be as loving as them, if our situations were turned around, but I don't know for sure that I would be. I don't know of anyone who is so loving that they're never humbled by the love of others, so maybe I'm not alone. But why not aspire to more? There's still such a gap between Christ's all-giving love and anything we have given ourselves.
Love through knowledge and depth of insight is something I think we don't really understand in modern times. Love is an emotion to most of us. We do nice things and make sacrifices because our heart tells us to. But imagine a servant who loves his master. Is he going to just do what his heart tells him to do? Or is he going to find out what his master likes, and make notes, and try to confirm his hunches about what truly pleases his master?
Many of us work in situations where love and servitude aren't really in the forefront of our workplace interactions. But most of us have been to restaurants or bars where the waitstaff know us and know our preferences. Occasionally we even have shops that know our tastes and can suggest things we might like. Isn't that a more pleasing experience than interacting with someone for whom we're just another faceless wallet? That's the servant attitude that builds knowledge and insight. A friend of mine works in finance, and she makes a point to learn her clients' preferences and tastes. In an industry of numbers, that makes her more valuable than someone who is just focused on the bottom line.
Do we even have that kind of knowledge and insight about the people we see every day, let alone God? When you're in church, talking with someone you probably see once a week, do you know their needs and desires and what makes them happy? If you had to love them with what resources you have, would you have the knowledge and insight to be able to act?
And what about God? Do you know what pleases him? If you were to express love, not to pay for your sins but to make him happy, would you have enough knowledge and insight to make a good guess? People interact with God the same as they would interact with an official here on earth. They worry about rules and regulations and a kind of law, but our relationship with him is more like a loved one or waitstaff of some kind. What does God want, and what pleases him? If we truly love him, that's some inside knowledge we'd really want to have.
And that's how we discern what is pure and blameless and righteous and glorifying to God. We have the Holy Spirit as our counselor, our inside peek at the mind of God, but we also have the faculties that God created us to have in his image. We try and fail, observe, and try again. We learn who he is, the same as we learn who our loved ones on earth are. We spend time with them, make assumptions and have to revise them. We do things for them and observe what they do. We have conversations.
When we begin to learn who God is, we are better equipped to praise him and draw attention to his glory. We recognize his goodness in more things. We see that we are pleasing to him, not because of a lack of sin, but because of his love for us and our love for him. We see our limitations and how he fills the gap time and time again. Are we going to see those things if we've only read theology textbooks? Is a brand new Christian going to notice as many of God's fingerprints on things in their life as someone who has spent years with him?
So Paul's prayer is a good prayer to have for our own lives. That we may love more, with real love that comes from experience and having our eyes wide open. And that it'll be a love that allows us to make the best choices to the glory and praise of God.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
It's nice to be reminded of the basics from time to time. In these verses, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi. He talks about their value to him and says some encouraging things. And then he shares his prayer for them.
The prayer sums up what we should aspire to as Christians: We should love more. And our love should include knowledge and insight. And that knowledge and insight should be put into practice so that we can have the instinct to be able to discern the right choices in life. And that comes from knowledge of Christ and a relationship with him.
We all need to love more. I'm constantly humbled by how much love the people around me have, especially when I am in clear need. I like to think I'd be as loving as them, if our situations were turned around, but I don't know for sure that I would be. I don't know of anyone who is so loving that they're never humbled by the love of others, so maybe I'm not alone. But why not aspire to more? There's still such a gap between Christ's all-giving love and anything we have given ourselves.
Love through knowledge and depth of insight is something I think we don't really understand in modern times. Love is an emotion to most of us. We do nice things and make sacrifices because our heart tells us to. But imagine a servant who loves his master. Is he going to just do what his heart tells him to do? Or is he going to find out what his master likes, and make notes, and try to confirm his hunches about what truly pleases his master?
Many of us work in situations where love and servitude aren't really in the forefront of our workplace interactions. But most of us have been to restaurants or bars where the waitstaff know us and know our preferences. Occasionally we even have shops that know our tastes and can suggest things we might like. Isn't that a more pleasing experience than interacting with someone for whom we're just another faceless wallet? That's the servant attitude that builds knowledge and insight. A friend of mine works in finance, and she makes a point to learn her clients' preferences and tastes. In an industry of numbers, that makes her more valuable than someone who is just focused on the bottom line.
Do we even have that kind of knowledge and insight about the people we see every day, let alone God? When you're in church, talking with someone you probably see once a week, do you know their needs and desires and what makes them happy? If you had to love them with what resources you have, would you have the knowledge and insight to be able to act?
And what about God? Do you know what pleases him? If you were to express love, not to pay for your sins but to make him happy, would you have enough knowledge and insight to make a good guess? People interact with God the same as they would interact with an official here on earth. They worry about rules and regulations and a kind of law, but our relationship with him is more like a loved one or waitstaff of some kind. What does God want, and what pleases him? If we truly love him, that's some inside knowledge we'd really want to have.
And that's how we discern what is pure and blameless and righteous and glorifying to God. We have the Holy Spirit as our counselor, our inside peek at the mind of God, but we also have the faculties that God created us to have in his image. We try and fail, observe, and try again. We learn who he is, the same as we learn who our loved ones on earth are. We spend time with them, make assumptions and have to revise them. We do things for them and observe what they do. We have conversations.
When we begin to learn who God is, we are better equipped to praise him and draw attention to his glory. We recognize his goodness in more things. We see that we are pleasing to him, not because of a lack of sin, but because of his love for us and our love for him. We see our limitations and how he fills the gap time and time again. Are we going to see those things if we've only read theology textbooks? Is a brand new Christian going to notice as many of God's fingerprints on things in their life as someone who has spent years with him?
So Paul's prayer is a good prayer to have for our own lives. That we may love more, with real love that comes from experience and having our eyes wide open. And that it'll be a love that allows us to make the best choices to the glory and praise of God.
Comments
Post a Comment