Distractions keep coming up, and there is seemingly no way out. But there is! It is the word "NO" uttered in no uncertain terms. When things come along, all we have to say is "no". Easier said than done. When you get up late for a morning appointment, do you skip the appointment? Then when the appointment is finished, why is it so hard to get back to square one and skip square two (which is already done)?
Honest questions, but some principles that we all need to handle in some fashion.
Finishing the two week challenge brings me to Philippians, which just happens to have only four chapters, so that works with the two-a-day.
In writing this letter to the Philippians, Paul finds himself in prison in Rome. Philippi is one of the places where he got a church started, and the people are concerned about him.[more] They wanted to make sure that he had food and other needs, so they sent stuff (probably money, some food stuff and who knows what else) to him. This letter is both a "Thank You" and some words of encouragement.
But even in the midst of imprisonment, Paul remembers why he is there, and uses that as a springboard in his letter. In effect he says "I am here because of what I was doing to advance the message of the Gospel. So don't stop what you are doing just because I am in prison. What has happened to me helps give courage to our brothers and sisters to speak up more! (1:12-14)
Paul kind of reminds them, that even though there might not be some great preachers like himself, they are still presenting the message about Jesus Christ and getting people to think about what He did and who He is. And then Paul says that even though some of those preacher/teachers might be doing it for the wrong reason and in the wrong way, he Paul rejoices!
Then he starts in with the logic…
The logic was to get the church in Philippi to be of one mind (the word in the Bible is "like-minded"). His logic in chapter 2 is not tied up in any human imaginings, but rather is all about Christ.
IF
- Christ encourages you
- His love gives you comfort
- His Spirit lives in you
- You sense His tenderness and compassion
THEN do the following and make me happy
- Be like-minded
- ;Have the same love (love the same way)
- Have the same spirit
- Have one purpose
Then, he says all this should be without any "get ahead of one another" attitude or "look how great I am", but rather he says "consider others better than yourself."
Now that's a hard pill to swallow!
Go ahead. Dissect it! Get your hands around it! Try as you might to wrap your mind around it, you can't get away from the "tenses" of his directives. There was no "try" or "see if you can" or "give it your best shot". It was clearly like a mandate – something he knew they and we can do. You can argue with it, but…
The decision to do or be is ours and ours alone.