REJOICING IN MATURITY
Monday, January 11, 2016
Philippians [NLT]
3:1-15 Whatever happens, my
dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you
these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. Watch out for those dogs,
those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be
saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly
circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence
in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone
could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have
even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded
citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there
ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest
obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the
church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought
these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what
Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the
infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded
everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and
become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying
the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of
making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and
experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with
him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the
resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved
these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to
possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear
brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing:
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach
the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ
Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things.
If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we
must hold on to the progress we have already made.
Dear fellow travelers,
I’m writing to encourage you when examining yourselves
to consider and rejoice in your maturation.
It was grandson Michael that got me to thinking about
this. Being 5 years old he of course didn’t articulate on the need to do so . .
. it had to do with a container of chocolate milk.
As his Mom and Dad work late hours some days, I’m
privileged to pick Michael up from school. Then we do something we both enjoy,
go to one of the many area playgrounds, watching sailors and wildlife at Lake
Manawa, run errands, go to some store including Sherbondy’s nursery and then
alternating who chooses place, always dine together.
Yesterday we went to a favorite place, TSC across the
street from his school. While doing our usual educational question/answer
testing-how-stuff-works how-was-it -made, Michael found some cool replica farm
equipment and animal miniatures he said he’d like to have for Christmas. With
his knowing they would be closeted until then I purchased them. (An exercise by
which he has learned patience.)
Then off to Olive Garden we went: Chicken parmesan with
salad for me and spaghetti with meatballs and chocolate milk for
Michael.
Always conversant with the wait people, we kept up a
running conversation with the waitresses when they weren’t busy. As we were
about to leave, one of the waitresses (Iowa native, just graduated from
Creighton w/Political Science degree, no brothers, 2 younger sisters, all raised
to take care of themselves, not married, presently w/o serious relationship,
wants to go into PS research.) presented Michael with a second chocolate milk to
take home with his leftovers.
As I was about to pick up the chocolate milk Michael, in
normal conversational tone, said “I’ll carry it Pop Pop. You have tremors and
could have one and the chocolate milk would fly all over the place.”
This set me to thinking of my maturation; there was a
time when, though saying nothing in response, I would have been huffy at hearing
such truth. This in turn led me to thinking about how I no longer beat dead
horses … which led me to further rejoicing in God’s maturing me in numerous
areas of life.
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