Afterwords -- week 3
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." (Philippians 1:3-5 ESV)
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SLOW READING PHILIPPIANS. In between a year (or two) of reading the Bible through on a schedule, I like to slow the pace down and read passages with no time constraints. This allows me to read smaller portions, to reread them, to study them at greater depth, and to follow rabbit trails. This morning I began Philippians, an epistle which brims with Paul's joy even though he is in chains. There's much in common between Paul's world and ours. Right off, I notice Paul's all-encompassing view of the gospel and the body of Christ. In verses 1 through 11, he uses the word "all," "every", or "always" (same root word) seven times in the first eight verses. His heart is wide-open and inclusive toward all his fellow believers, despite whatever problems he or they may be facing. This also sets us up for his conclusions in chapter four..."rejoice always (v 4)... reasonableness known to everyone (v 5)... in everything by prayer (v 6)... all understanding (v 7)... I can do all things (v 13)... every need provided (v 19). In both sections he concludes, "...through Jesus Christ, to the glory (doxa) and praise of God" (1:11), and "to our God and Father be glory (doxa) forever and ever" (4:20). Don't pass lightly over the doxologies in the Bible! However brief they might be, they tell us of the grand purpose of creation, history, and redemption, namely the revelation and communication of God's glory. That is, we were created to see, know, enjoy, reflect, and be transformed by the glory of God. Note the phrase "with joy" (v 4). Rejoicing is a major theme in this short letter from Paul.
OUR HIGHEST GOOD. "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us..." (Acts 17:26-27 ESV) Why were we created? What is our ultimate purpose? (And why are we so restless?) Here's Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck on "Man's Highest Good"…
"WHO MADE THIS?" Andrea Bocelli in a recently aired interview on TBN was asked why he believed in God. He answered, "Faith is the search which begins in my opinion when a person asks for the first time, what is the reason for life? For me faith seemed right from the start to be a crossroads. If you don't want to have faith in God then you must necessarily have faith in another god, 'By Chance'. Otherwise, we're like the person who stands before Michaelangelo's Pieta who asks, 'who made this?' And someone tells him an Italian artist named Michaelangelo. And that person says, 'I don't believe it because I can't see him. I never heard of him, I've never heard his voice, I never saw his face... so, I don't believe you.' An atheist in my opinion is one who doesn't have faith, or has faith in a god named, 'By Chance'. It's impossible that, if he found himself before the Pieta of Michaelangelo, that he were to prefer to believe that it was a 'by chance' design or the result of the rain falling on the marble that created this wonder that is the Pieta." (Andrea Bocelli, December 2021; photo below of the Pieta.)
MISC. We recently had a beautiful snow, somewhere between 5- and 7-inches inches at our house, with winds and drifting. Thankful that power stayed on! And it's always a special treat to light our first fire of the year in the woodstove! We finally got our driveway cleared, and I warmed up with some wonderful homemade split pea soup. OK, now I'm ready for spring...
Sandy