Thursday the 10th

Philippians 2: ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. ¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

God is at work in you……that sounds good doesn’t it? What is God doing? Working….oh, where is He working? In YOU! That desire to do the right thing, that nudge that you can’t explain to go left instead of right, the unexplained time that you held your tongue even though you were ready to unload on someone….God is at work in you. So we should do that work without complaining. We are walking this earth, guided by the Trinity, So really…..what is there to complain about? Is it too hard, too inconvenient, disruptive to your plans. About 2000 years ago I know of a Man who had good reason to grumble, and complain, He had every reason to argue His innocence yet he never said a word. When we grumble, when we argue, we damage our relationship with Christ. How you might ask? Well, to put it in human terms, and for ease of illustration, Have you ever taken a friend to a party, or a gathering? You have known the friend for a while, but this is the first gathering in public together. Not 15 min. into the evening you look around and see that your friend is complaining to everyone around about the music, or the food, or worse yet, he has started arguing with others at the party……Don’t you suddenly feel about 3 inches tall, and start thinking it is about time to leave, if you can’t get your friend under control? You are embarrassed. Now we could have a whole conversation about how Christ is never ashamed of us, and that is the truth, but when we argue and bicker, and moan, and complain all of the time, we are most certainly not living up to the example that Christ has given us. This passage closes with an important reminder when we do live our lives in the light of God, we will be found without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, we will shine like stars in the universe. Shine like stars, how often do you look at the stars in the sky? They are a thing of wonder for sure, you know their light is seen long after they are gone. How unusual to think that we navigate from the light of stars, some of which are long gone, yet they bring us home safely. May we all live to shine like stars, as lights, and examples that continue to radiate God’s love well after we are gone.

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

The New Covenant Church

http://www.thenewcovenantchurch.com/

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