Philippians 1:24-26

New American Standard Version

24 Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 25 And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

Pastor’s Paraphrase

          But as I think about what remains to be done to help you grow in the Lord and learn how to live for Him, I can’t help but believe that God is not through with me here on earth yet.   So I have come to believe that God will leave me here to finish my work with you - helping you to continue to make progress in your spiritual journey and to discover all the joy that God has to give you. I know that my returning to you would not only bring me great happiness but would cause your hearts to overflow with His joy as well!

 “How does this help me become more like Him?”

          Do you know why you’re here?  Sometimes we can feel that all we’re really doing is working at our jobs until we’re exhausted so that we can pay our bills and support our family.  Because we spend so much time at our work, we can fall into the illusion that we’re just here to do a job and make a living.  In your heart as a child of God, you know that’s not right.  It just can seem that way because our work can sap us of most of our energy as it monopolizes our time.

          We struggle with that sometimes and we conclude that the answer is to somehow devote less time to work so that we can serve God more.  We can’t wait to get away from the workplace so that we can do something meaningful for the Lord.  That is a noble desire but it carries with it a misunderstanding of who we really are.

          The Scripture teaches us that we are ambassadors for Christ.  That means that we represent Him – not just when we are doing mission work or church things but every moment of our lives.  Too many times, we view our service to God as a piece of our time/energy puzzle that we dedicate to the Lord and all the other things in our life are just stuff we have to do.  Instead, we should understand that Christ is to saturate ALL of our lives because we represent Him in EVERYTHING we do – work, family time, recreation, household chores, and yes, church stuff.

          We represent Him at work with a strong work ethic, a Christlike attitude, and compassion for our coworkers.  We represent Him with our family by caring for them and modeling Christlike humility and grace to them.  We represent Him in our neighborhood by being a good neighbor and demonstrating the love of Jesus to those who see us come and go every day.  We represent Him as we join with other believers in the work of God’s Kingdom through His church.  You represent Him every day in all that you do.  You’re not here just to make a living, you’re here to share His life.

“How should I pray for Him to change my life?”

Pray that you would represent Him well today at work, at home, or wherever He takes you.  Ask Him to remind you daily that you belong to Him and to fill you with His presence and His power.  Thank Him for the wonderful privilege of making His Son known to others through your words, attitudes, and actions.

END