Theme of the Week: Book of the Bible – Philippians
Bible Verse: Being confident of this, that He who began the good work in your will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:1-11
One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Philippians. It is filled with hope and joy and victory. We are going to read that book this week and talk about some of its highlights. I hope you enjoy this journey.
I played basketball in high school. We were not the best team in the league, nor were we the worst. We enjoyed the excitement of winning as well as the disappointment of losing.
Our coach was a great baller in his own right, and he wanted us to be the best that we could be. So, we practiced. One of the things that we used to do a lot of was a combination of running lines and wall jumps. This was exhausting. I would much rather shoot hoops the whole time, but he knew better.
Often, one of the team would end up running out of the gym in order to throw up. I wish I could say that I was able to avoid that experience, but no one was immune.
Our coach didn’t do that just for the sheer sadistic pleasure of seeing us get sick (at least I don’t think so). He did this because he saw that we could be better than we were. We could be faster. We could jump higher. We could run longer. He was committed to seeing us be all that we could be.
This is the work of Christ in our lives, too. He began the good work in us when He invited us to surrender our lives over to Him, and He will continue that work until we are complete.
Will it be fun and enjoyable? Sometimes, for sure. Maybe even often. But not always. Sometimes, He will allow us to go through difficulties to train us and push us beyond where we currently are to become who we were meant to be.
He will do this until the day of Christ, His day, which means that we will keep on growing until we meet Jesus face to face.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that You care enough for me that You will continue to challenge me and coach me and push me to be all that You want me to be. Help me to submit to Your training. Help me not to get bitter. Help me not to be a whiner. Have Your way in my life, for Your glory. Amen.
Reflection: What is your growth edge lately? Where are you finding things difficult? Know that Jesus will use this hard time to make you into the best you can be.
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