Now there’s a passionate paraphrase of St. Paul! There is far more to life for us! Accumulating, hoarding, and obsessing over transitory possessions, glittering as they are, offer far less of a life than what Christ offers…
…Paul says, “join together” in imitating me, in following my example. It is quite easy to read past this communal statement. This is no solo endeavor. Others are required for this kind of imitation…
The word here for “mature” is teleioi. It has the idea of having grown into the fullness of being who God made you to be, of wanting everything that God has for you. Picture that. Maybe it’s a series of images piecing together a life…
…we are called to press on, to run to get what we already have. This is strange, but true. You have already been grabbed by Christ and had your relationship with God changed, but now you’re running after the same Christ…
A Christian counts everything as rubbish compared to the surpassing worth of knowing him. What a Christian says is, “If trouble in my love life has helped me get to know him better, so his love comes down on me, so I’m more dependent on him, so he’s more real to me, so I’m clinging to him in prayer…
Paul had a many reasons to be confidently self-sufficient. His education, career, and social background set him among the elite. He was as morally righteous as a person can be, and yet…
If you think that your moral goodness makes you pure, then you’ve missed the impurity of your sin that makes even your best efforts filthy like the street dogs that plagued ancient cities. If you consider yourself a “blameless law-doer,” then you reveal the self-righteous condition …
How do you enter into a wilderness? What gear and provisions will you bring with you? If you went to REI, what gear would they recommend? Paul recommends something that on the surface seems impractical: joy in Christ as King…
Let Paul teach you the reality of Christ’s control of your life, so that you frame your plans and dreams and hopes in the light of Christ’s lordship. Let Timothy show you what it looks like to push back against your own fears…
Paul and Epaphroditus’ longing to be with their brothers and sisters in Christ is counter-cultural to our ingrained individualism which subtly consumes our days and alters our affections…
