◄ What Does Philippians 2:16 Mean? ►

In his instructions for godly living, Paul calls the Philippian Christians to do all things without grumbling, murmuring or disputing among themselves. This was obviously a problem in the early Christian church, just as it can be in the Body of Christ today.. But when we consider the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ before our own.. we prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, who bring honour and glory the Lord.

Paul pointed out the importance of believers being above reproach and appearing as lights in the world.. knowing that we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, which has adopted a worldly mindset and delights in an anti-God agenda. But we are children of the light and children of the day and we do not belong to the night or to the darkness, for the fruit of the light consists in every kind of goodness, uprightness and truth.

And Paul goes on to explain how this godly mindset can be developed in the Christian life. We are to hold fast to the Word of God, which contains all that we need to live godly in Christ Jesus.

We are to hold fast to the Word of life until that glorious day when Christ comes to take us to be with Himself in glory.. we are to keep the Word of God in our heart as the singular benchmark for truth and to look to Jesus every moment of the day, for He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who will one day come to take us to be with Himself.

Paul wanted these Philippian Christians to stand fast in the faith and to immerse themselves in the truth of God's Word.. not only for the heavenly reward that they themselves would receive, but to demonstrate that his work amongst this little Church at Philippi had not been in vain.

We too need to stand fast in the word of life and to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus, as we press toward the mark for the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.

May we not only run to win the prize for ourselves through godly living, but that we rejoice with all our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have interacted in our Christian life.. as together we watch for the any day return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Word of God and the truth that it contains... I pray that I may hold fast to the word of life and appear as a light in the midst of a crooked and perverse world so that my life may give honour to the Lord, Who died for me and rose again to give me His eternal life. Bless all my brothers and sisters in Christ and I pray that we may all grow in grace together, as we press toward the goal for the upward call in Jesus Christ our Lord - in Whose name we pray, AMEN.