Laboring with His Energy

Read Colossians 1

If you have to sit in prison, you had just as well write a few letters.  This time Paul writes to the church in Colossae. 

This city was about 100 miles east of Ephesus and situated in the fertile Lycus valley.  It was near the cities of Lacodicea and Hierpolis.

Paul did not plant this church but was very much involved in its beginnings.  On Paul’s third missionary journey, he spent about 3 years in Ephesus.  From this ministry, churches emerged in the surrounding area.

A man named Epaphras likely took the gospel that he had heard from Paul and spread it to the surrounding areas, including these cities 100 miles away.  This church is special because as far as we know, none of the apostles had been involved in getting it started.

This was the next generation of church bodies that emerged not from eye witnesses to the resurrected Jesus, but by those who had not seen but believed and carried the good news to the world.

This church faced some external challenges.  First, this was pagan country.  The Jewish influence was minimal.  Next, the Jewish believers were likely hot on the trail of this Christian faith even here.  These Jesus followers had broken new ground, now it was time to bring in the Law of Moses.  Finally, the Gnostics—those folks that didn’t fully believe that God would come in the flesh and live among sinful men—were spreading their wings wherever they could.  The Gnostics were more about knowledge than transformation.

So Paul made sure that Christ was not only central in this letter; but noted that true knowledge came only through him.

Christ is the image of the invisible God.

The fullness of God lives in Christ.

The reconciliation of all things comes only in Christ.

Christ is the head of the body, of the church.

Christ is the beginning and the first born from among the dead.

Christ reigns supreme.

Paul proclaimed Christ central to everything, but also challenged his readers to respond in conduct, obedience, practical behavior, and living worthy of our Lord.

It’s not just knowing, it is responding to what we know.

So Paul begins this short letter in thanksgiving and prayer.

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

This should all sound quite familiar.  Paul is beckoning these believers to live up to the people that God has already made them to be.  He wants them to live in the fullness of knowing God’s will.  Elsewhere we might refer to this as his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Paul understood what these young believers were facing, so early in his letter he begins to reinforce the supremacy of Christ. 

·      He is the image of the invisible God!  Sinful human flesh cannot look upon God the Father so God came in the flesh where we could not only see him but see God—Holy God, God the Father, Yaweh, Elohim, Abba—through him.

·      He is the firstborn over all creation.  He was not only present at the creation but it seems that he had to do most of the work.  The gospel author John would say that everything that was made was made through him.

·      He is the beginning of all things and the very glue that holds all things together.

·      He is the head of the church.  Remember what Jesus said to Peter:  On this rock I build MY church.  The church belongs to Jesus and he is the head.  On a few occasions I have responded to someone who did like a change or something new and told me, “It doesn’t feel like my church anymore.”  I said, “It never was.  The church belongs to Jesus.”

·      He is the first born from the dead.  In him we have victory over death.  Death is defeated!

·      God was pleased to put all of his fullness in Christ Jesus.

·      God reconciled all things to himself through the shed blood of Jesus—all things!

Paul conveyed a very basic message:  It is Christ and Christ alone that saves you from your sin and from death.  Don’t make the simple complicated.

You were once strangers, aliens, outcasts from God, but through Christ you have been made holy, without blemish, and free from accusation.  While Paul wrote to church bodies far and near, this message remains constant.

Jesus paid it all.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

Jesus name above all names.

One day, if you are taking a test on Colossians and you have to fill in the blank, chances are the answer is Christ.

If it is a multiple choice test, choose the selection that reads “Christ.”

If it is an essay, start and begin with Christ.

Paul is telling these believers, you got it right the first time.  It is Christ and Christ alone.  Don’t be distracted.  Don’t be dissuaded.  Don’t change your focus.  Christ is supreme.  He is central.  He is the answer.

Now we get to the fun stuff.  Paul talked about his service, sometimes suffering service, in the name of Christ.

Paul explained that he wanted everything for these believers.  What had been a mystery was now revelation.  God’s love was for all.

Paul said he was commissioned to take this word to the world striving to fulfill the desire of God’s heart, but here is the fun part.

First, let me explain my job as manager at the Oklahoma Publishing Company, you know it as The Oklahoman.  This was from another lifetime.

I was responsible for circulation and sales in the southwest fourth of the state.  This was not my favorite job, though I did very well at it.  My managers contracted carriers to deliver papers.  Their earnings were pitiful and often we could not attract the best carriers.  Carriers would quit without notice.  Service was disrupted.  It was ugly.

I spent almost 5 years trying to fix things that the organization did not want fixed.  After several pilot cases where I showed that by paying the carriers a little more and keeping them on the job, the company made more money—actually a lot more money—and having these rejected again and again, I decided it was time to do something else.

I had never been in an organization where I was not effective with continuous improvement and I found myself in the middle of a culture that didn’t care.

But there was the company car, and not just the car but the fuel card.  During my time with the paper, we probably spent $50 a year on gas.  If we were going somewhere, we took the company car and burned the company’s fuel.

As far as the job, you can have it.  I was burned out trying to convince circulation directors and vice presidents that people with no phone service were not signed up for a subscription by a telemarketer.

But the car, and oh the fuel card, those were nice.  Being fueled by somebody else’s energy, now that was something.

We who follow Christ are sent into the world but we are using God’s fuel card.  We are using God’s energy!

Our response to God’s incredible love that we know in Christ is to take that love to the world.  It might seem an exhausting task, but we use God’s energy and his strength.

Think on this provocation for a moment.  Why don’t we use God’s strength and his power and his energy more often?  Why do we burn our own fuel so much instead?

Have you ever seen an exhausted basketball team outplay the better rested one?  Where did their energy come from?

Have you ever dragged yourself to Bible Study on a Wednesday night wishing you had just stayed home and gone to bed early, but left feeling full of energy?  What happened?

If the camaraderie and loyalty of the sports team can sustain them beyond their limits, how much more will the energy of God fill and sustain us?

Paul tells us that he is running the good race, fighting the good fight, and keeping the faith but God gave him his fuel card.

Listen to how Paul concludes this first chapter in The Message translation.

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

If you will step forward in your commission to take God’s love that we know in Christ Jesus to your neighbors and to the people you see at Walmart or Hutch’s or the Post Office, God will give you the energy to keep going.

Our message is simple—we know love and life in Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we just start the conversation with “God loves you.”

You don’t have to memorize a script.  You just take God’s love with you wherever you go.  Let people taste God’s goodness whenever they cross your path.  Be a light that shines in the darkness.

Know that God will fill your tank again and again.

Yes, we are called to labor in service to the Lord, but he gives us his energy.  His yoke is easy.  His burden is light.  

He gives us his fuel card.

Let’s labor with joy for our Lord!

Amen.

Flying through Philippians

Wow!  What a jammed packed letter.  One could spend a year preaching from this text.  It is so rich; however that is not the task at hand.

This is a 10,000 foot fly-over of this fantastic letter to the first congregation that Paul established don the continent of Europe.  If you are part of a healthy congregation that contends with only the occasional squabble, this short epistle will seem like it was addressed to you and your congregation.

As you fly through Philippians, realize that you are truly free to be the people that God wants you to be.  He has done it!  All we need do is take hold of that which we have already obtained in the blood of Christ Jesus.

Chapter 1 – To Live is Christ.  To Die is Gain.

Chapter 2 – To the Glory of God the Father!

Chapter 3 – Profit and Loss

Chapter 4 – Be Anxious for Nothing!

Be Anxious for Nothing!

Read Philippians 4

The first verse of the fourth chapter reminds us that Paul was writing a letter and not a chapter book.  It connects not only the previous chapter but much of the letter with how Paul concludes this short epistle, and this last chapter is surely fully packed with precious counsel.

My dear friends, stand strong in the Lord!  Stand!

The original word is στήκω (stékó) and it means to stand fast, stand firm, as well as to persevere.  It’s less about staying in one place geographically as it is to staying the course, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, and being strong—in this context to be strong in the faith that you know and be strong as the people that God has already made you to be.

It doesn’t mean, stand strong until you get your way.  Paul charged two women to resolve whatever had them at odds.  Paul doesn’t go into it.  He doesn’t present the pros and cons of each side.  He just says, “Agree in the Lord.”

Think back to his letter to the Ephesians—submit to one another out of reverence for Chirst.  We live in one accord out of reverence for Christ.

These two ladies must have stirred up something in the body.  For as much as Paul loved these people in Philippi; they needed a little admonishment here.  Paul not only charges these two women to let it go, but reminded the body of Christ that they are in this whole one accord, one Spirit, one body business as well.

Paul told his Philippian friends that this family of faith business is not a spectator sport.  Get in there and help them.  These two ladies worked with Paul previously in sharing the gospel and now they needed some godly guidance, direction, correction, encouragement, and just some good ole help from this body of believers.

They needed help in achieving reconciliation.  The peace and harmony that this body had surely known for a time needed to be restored and Paul ignored the merits of either’s case—which Epaphroditus had surely explained-and just told them to sort it out in the Lord.

“Y’all submit to one another out of reverence to Christ and get this sorted out.”  It does not help you press on towards the goal.  It does not help you take hold of what you have already attained—being made holy and blameless in the eyes of God.

Had Paul been writing to the Galatians, he would have said, “You were running a good race, who cut you off?”  Here he just says get it worked out in the Lord and get back in the race.

We could spend some days, weeks, or even months in this counsel.  How many times do the little things keep us from accomplishing the big things—the things that God has set before us.

How many times do we get wrapped up in being right instead of being on track?

How many times are we insisting on our own way instead of submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ?

But what I think or have to say is IMPORTANT!  I wouldn’t be making a big stink if it wasn’t important.

Fair enough, but submitting to Christ in all things is more important.  Regarding others more highly than our selves; that’s important as well.

Paul is not saying that we will never disagree.  He is saying that there must be unity in the body.  If my argument causes division in the body; my reconciliation with the body is more important that my idea or my way or my anything that seems to be stirring up dissension.

“I” am not first in all things.  Christ, others, and then me is the model of humility that we should take from this letter.

Next Paul speaks of joy and not just joy, but joy in the Lord.  Rejoice in the Lord all the time.  Hey guys!  This is really important, so I will say it again, rejoice!

Paul uses the word joy or rejoice sixteen times in this short letter that we break into four chapters.  Four times he mentions “rejoice” twice in the same verse.

Joy and rejoicing is not unique to this letter, but it is very important to Paul, and important that he share what he understands about joy.

Joy is God’s gift to forgiven people!

Joy is part of our spiritual harvest.

In this particular pericope, Paul notes that we should rejoice always.  Joy is not contingent upon our circumstances or our emotions or the fact that the tornado siren is making a lot of noise.  Our joy is in the Lord and this special gift from God is the gift that keeps on giving.

It might seem a little ironical that Paul did a little chewing out with Euodia and Syntyche and the body of believers that should have been stepping in to resolve this matter in the Lord and then jump right into his exhortation to rejoice in the Lord all the time.

But it is neither irony, nor or Paul’s words poorly placed.  In the middle of the worst issue the church might be sorting out, they must never lose their joy that comes from the Lord.  

Remember the words of Jesus that we get from John’s gospel. 

Jesus told his followers that they would have trouble in the world, but he didn’t leave it at that.  He said, take heart, cheer up, put a smile on your face, have some joy in your lives because “I have overcome the world.”

Paul is saying that we can’t be hanging our heads while we are singing Victory in Jesus!   Rejoice!

Paul next mentions something that is often overlooked in this passage.  He says the Lord is near so let your gentleness be known to all.  Gentleness is a good translation of the Greek word ἐπιεικής (epieikés).

But we should understand that this word also includes the meanings of fairness and justice and truly speaks to living by the spirit of the law over the letter of the law.  In very dynamic translation, it means justice that goes beyond ordinary justice. 

Paul is saying start living in the fulfillment of the law—in the divine heart and grace that desires mercy over sacrifice.  Think to the prophet Micah who wrote:

What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Paul just rewords this a bit.  The essence of the fifth verse is that before everyone we seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly because we live in the presence of our God.

And now we come to verses that so many know so well.  If we listen to them or read them with an open mind, we will be empowered.  If we invite the Holy Spirit into our reading and listening, we can know a peace that is unobtainable by the world’s standards.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Jesus told his followers that worrying doesn’t do any good.  You can’t add a single day or even an hour to your life by worrying.  Paul said, “Let’s taken him at face value.  Do not worry about anything!”

Peter would add, even if you are threatened, don’t worry.  Stand ready to make a defense for your faith.

The first part of Paul’s counsel is in the negative—don’t be anxious—don’t worry; so what are we to do?

Here we are directed to pray.  If we kept reading our Bibles and seeking the counsel of other believers, we might also be challenged to worship.  Paul’s direction is to pray, make petitions to God, and do it in thanksgiving.

In your worst predicament, be thankful.  If you have ever noticed, I have something of a sequence to my prayers.  I begin with thanksgiving and then get to everything else.

Why?

Thanksgiving is the perfect place to begin.  You might think that the prayer begins with Father, or Holy God, or Holy and Gracious God, or just Lord, and you would be right; but I am certain that God knows who we are talking to when we pray, even if we just say, “Dad.” Our Father in heaven knows that we are calling even before the words reach our lips.

But God wants to hear us acknowledge him in thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving says that we are not trying to live apart from God.  We are not trying this whole life and salvation thing on our own.  We are thankful for life, life abundant, and life eternal—all of these we know because of our Father in heaven who loves us more than we will ever comprehend.

We may not figure it all out but we know enough to be thankful.  Then we ask for what we need and we are not ashamed to ask our Father for anything.

We may not always get the items on the request list but we are promised God’s peace.  It is peace that is bigger—way bigger—than what we can comprehend.

What does this peace do for us?

It guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  It is real peace granted to us in the middle of a troubled, anxious, and chaotic world.

In the middle of this craziness that we call the world, we can have God’s peace that goes far beyond what we can comprehend.  It is a promise that goes all the way back to a very familiar proverb. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

So many people today deny themselves God’s peace that passes all human understand because they insist upon their own understanding.

Next we come to some mental gymnastics.  Elsewhere, Paul directs believers to defeat every argument against the truth that we know in Christ; and for those thoughts that just pop into our heads, capture them.  If they don’t line up with the truth, boot them out without any consideration—end of story.  Don’t give them time to take root.

Some of you may have heard the saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”  That’s a stretch to make any translation of the Bible include that wording; but it is not contrary to what Paul is telling us.  Proverbs 16 gets close.

Paul is saying, “Don’t leave your mind in neutral.  This thinking business is a proactive thing.”

Instead of just waiting to see what pops into that mind of yours next, give it some specific subject areas.  If God is not doing all of the talking at the moment, here are some things to meditate upon.

Whatever is:

·      True

·      Noble

·      Right

·      Pure

·      Lovely

·      Admirable

·      Excellent

·      Praiseworthy

If we are thinking on these things then we are not thinking on whatever is:

·      False and deceptive

·      Dishonorable

·      Just plain wrong

·      Dirty

·      Morally ugly

·      Disreputable

·      Shoddy

·      Shameful

We are to take charge of our thinking and think on good things.  On another occasion, Paul told believers in Rome that the sinful mind is hostile to God but the mind controlled by the Spirit leads to life and peace.

Paul wraps up in familiar style.  He talks a little about himself, a little about the church body, and a little about what they share in common.

To the final point first—Paul thanks the congregation for the gift that they sent, probably with Epaphroditus—though this may have been one of several gifts over the years.  Paul explains that he is in pretty good shape now and that the folks at Philippi didn’t have to do this.  Paul knew how to get by on his own, but as they were generous, Paul simply says thank you for the gift.

He knows that these believers will be blessed for having a giving heart and giving spirit.

In so doing, he also gives us some insight in his circumstances and surely our own as well.  Paul said, I know what it is to have next to nothing and I know what it is to have more than I need.    Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt; but it is neither the stuff nor the circumstances that govern my joy and my peace.

I have learned to be content with my circumstances.  In whatever situation I am in, my joy and my peace come from the Lord.  If I am dining with the Emperor or stuck at home eating Ramen, I am just fine.  Paul states that he can do everything that God has purposed him to do in the strength of God.

My joy and my peace come from the Lord, not whether I have a lot or a little.  The Lord meets my needs.

Paul next tells the church in Philippi that the Lord will meet and exceed their needs.  God doesn’t have to scrounge around to see what he can put together to help this church get by.  He will bless them out of his richness and his riches.

So Paul concludes this short letter to a church that he loved.  He had to be a little terse here and there but mostly he is telling these people to have joy and accept God’s peace and be confident of his provision.

He has been coaching, guiding, and mentoring these people to be the people that God had already made them to be.

Paul told the Philippians and he is telling us that we are free to be God’s people.  There are no qualifying rounds.  

Through the blood of Christ we have been made the exact people that God wants us to be.

We are now free to live up to and be the people that we really are.

I think that if I had written this letter, I would have used the word rejoice at least as many times as Paul did and surely counseled all who would hear, not to worry—to stop being anxious about anything.

Friends, Paul is indeed writing to us.  Be anxious for nothing.  Be joyful.  Know the peace of God that goes beyond our understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

And think on good things.

Amen!

Profit and Loss

Read Philippians 3

Rejoice!

Have some joy in your life!

Our joy is not dependent upon our circumstances but is in the Lord.  Rain or shine, flood or drought, abundance or famine our joy is in the Lord.

Paul made and would continue to make a point of this many times in many letters.  Our joy is in the Lord.

While Philippi was in the continent of Europe, it was close to Asia and apparently those preaching Christ plus circumcision were trying to have some influence.  While not nearly the discourse that he took with the Galatians; Paul admonished these believers not to place any confidence in the flesh.

That included a sign in the flesh and the accomplishments of the flesh.  These are not the things that bring glory to God.  Those who are led by and live by the Spirit of God do not hedge their bet by the things of the flesh.

Paul used his own life as an example.  In what would have been a great PowerPoint presentation, Paul enumerated his standing according to the world.

·      Born into the people of Israel

·      Tribe of Benjamin

·      Circumcised on the 8^th day

·      Subtotal those three and you get a genuine Hebrew

·      A Pharisee—a doctorate in the law:  A lawyer

·      Enthusiasm—maxed out to the point of persecuting this rebellious church

·      Legalism—faultless

·      Subtotal these three and you get the best of the best, legally speaking.

·      Grand total all these and you have a man born into God’s people and who lived by God’s law to its very letter.

Paul said if there ever was a man to want to stick to the Law of Moses it is me; but everything that I once regarded as important is just rubbish to me now.

We must take Paul’s statements at face value.

Paul considered all of these things that afforded him some standing in the world, especially the Hebrew world, as dung—manure; yet these were valuable things.

When Paul visited a city, he entered the synagogue if there was one available.  He addressed the people.  Why not?  He was Hebrew and in fact he was a highly educated Hebrew who could speak from or to any of the scriptures.

When Paul received Christ as his Lord and Savior, he had incredible knowledge of the very scriptures that not only revealed the coming of the Christ but the grace contained in the heart of God as well.

Paul having come to follow Jesus had access to treasures old and new.

Especially as we come into the season of graduations, understand that these things were not bad.  Paul is not discounting education and training or even enthusiasm for what you do.

He is saying that as far as being right with God is concerned, there is only Jesus.

It’s not:

Accepted Christ, he’s right with God.

Accepted Christ, she’s right with God.

Oh!  Great resume, yeah that will work for being right with God.  Not! 

You can enjoy the fact that you are an Okie.  You can enjoy the fact that you graduated from high school or college or have half a dozen advanced degrees and certifications.  But you know that the only thing that makes you right with God is your relationship with Christ.

All of that other stuff is fantastic if you use it to the glory of God but it won’t bring you into right standing with God.

In that equation, it’s just manure, dung, worthless, rubbish, nothing of value.  These things are not profit.  They are loss when it comes to right standing with God.

Only Christ counts for right standing.

People ask for many things when planning a funeral.  As they sort through a lifetime of photos they also try to remember favorite songs.  One time a few family members asked me if they could play Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

I said, “Sure as long as you all know that’s not how it works.  You cannot buy a stairway to heaven.”  You can’t buy, you can’t earn, and you can’t manipulate right standing with God.

There’s Christ and there is everything else.

So is Paul saying that there is no point to getting an education or working hard at what you do?

No.  He is explicit in saying that those things do not bring you into right standing with God.  They are worth zero points on the righteousness scale; but please remember that you can use all of these things to bring glory to God as you work out—live out your salvation.

The things that we do can’t get us to our salvation, but everything that we do living out our salvation should bring glory to God.

So go ahead and get that diploma, get that degree, get that certification, be the most exuberant employee where you work but do it all not to attain right standing with God but to live out the right standing that he gave you, and bring him glory.

Paul next provides counsel that is for everyone in every age, and I would think especially in this time and place that we know today.

Quit living your lives looking backwards.  Just as our human birthrights and titles don’t bring us into right standing with God; neither does dragging our history around with us bring him glory or bring us joy.

Whether we carry around every mistake we ever made or we keep thinking back to those glory days, we are not fully living unless we are moving forward.  Paul said press on towards the goal, strain forward, take hold of what is before us.

What’s that?

Life!

Real, abundant, and eternal life is before us.

Press on, strain forward, take hold are all very strong action phrases.  They have some strong verbs here.  You can only use this sort of challenging language with people of purpose.

If you are looking to be content in your Christianity, then these words may be offensive to you.

Now Paul does what Paul does and his thing is to explain things in the God’s already done it but I’m still doing it mode.

God has already made us right with him, pure, holy, and blameless in his sight; but we are still moving towards realizing what it is to live that way.

We are citizens of heaven living in these bodies of flesh in a world that does not know God, but it is our citizenship that governs here. 

Paul writes, “Let us live up to what we have already attained.”  God granted us right standing with him through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Now let us live up to that right standing.

Paul understands that not everyone gets this concept:  God has already done it but we are pressing on to live as the people that God has already made us to be.  He simply notes that in time you will understand God’s incredible revelation to us.

In the mean time, quit looking back and lean forward. The author of Hebrews would add, “and keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.”

Paul noted that there were some in his time and we should consider that there are those in our time who seem to be working against us.  We take Christ to the world with eyes fixed on Jesus.  Those fighting against us answer to God.  They are not our burden.

We lean into our salvation and take love to the world.

We press on towards the goal of realizing who we have been made to be.

We strain forward—we grow in grace.

We might learn to be content in our circumstances but we should never be content in our growth.  We are constantly striving to be the people that God made us to be.

He has already done it but we must be on our way there.  We are always growing in God’s grace.

Paul loved this church at Philippi.  He wanted them to know the fullness of their salvation and really be the people that God made them to be.

Paul could have been writing to us.  We love the grace that we know in God and we need the occasional challenge not to become complacent but to press on to being the people that we have already been made to be.

One day we will give up these earthly bodies and get the new and improved version.  We can all look forward to that.  Most of us have some things from our past that keeping reminding us of the race that we have already run.  Some of those things hurt.

Pain—no matter how intense—is temporary.  We will have new life in new bodies—new glorious bodies.  But while we are on this earth in these bodies, we press on towards the goal of becoming the holy and blameless people that God made us to be.

We strain forward to be more like our Master.

We lean into our salvation to bring glory to God in all that we do.

Occasionally we share a story from our past to help someone going through a trial.  Occasionally we meet with old friends and celebrate the glory days of touchdowns, homeruns, medals, trophies, and homecoming queens.

But for the most part, we leave the past in the past and live going forward to the glory of God.  If we are following Jesus we profit from our past experience and grow in grace.

We discount—count as loss—trying to convince God to accept us as the people that we think we need to be and whatever pedigree comes with that.  We accept and embrace the people that God has already made us to be and press on to realizing what it is to live as those people.

So let’s lean into our salvation and press on towards the goal of being the very people that God has already made us to be.

Amen.