My Bible reading plan gives me one day to read Philippians. ONE DAY. One day out of 365 is devoted to reading Philippians. That’s ridiculous. Every year I try a different reading plan, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Because this plan attempts to give me more readings out of fewer sources (instead of fewer readings out of more sources), when I come to a New Testament book, I hardly have time to notice it, let alone stay in it a while and really let it soak in.
So it feels like a complete disservice to write anything about Philippians, since that book has impacted me in so many ways since I’ve become a true follower of Christ. Regardless, there is ALWAYS one part that rattles me (in a good way, but ‘rattles’ nonetheless).
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. – Philippians 1:29-30
Granted. It has been granted to you that you should suffer for Christ’s sake. Granted.
I remember reading this in 2008, a few years after I started following Jesus. It blew my mind. How on earth has suffering been granted to those believers? WHY would suffering be granted to them? Isn’t suffering something that Jesus saves us from? Shouldn’t we avoid it at all costs?
Ok, skip that. Keep reading. There’s an awesome passage about having the mind of Christ in 2:5-11. I could spend all day on that alone. But keep going for now. I got to an often quoted section in chapter 3:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Alright, now we’re back on track. This sounds good.
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
Yes! I’m supposed to give up my old life and consider it trash because Jesus is so great!
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
Yes again! It’s all about faith!
— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
This is great! I want to know Jesus and His power!
and may share his sufferings,
What?
becoming like him in his death,
Ummm, what?
that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Huh?
Ok, so I’ve written that somewhat flippantly, but it kind of encapsulates the transition that occurred in my thinking as I studied through Philippians. For the first time in my life, I saw that suffering for Jesus and the Gospel is wrapped up in following Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we will do the things He did, and as much as He was acting in love, some people rejected Him. They rejected Him because He also spoke truth, and they didn’t want to hear it. The truth convicted them, and they didn’t want to feel bad. They didn’t want to acknowledge that they needed Jesus. They wanted to be found good and right based on what they had done. They had no need for someone else. So what do you do to someone who makes you feel bad? You fight. You do everything in your power to deny His message and even make His life hard. You do whatever you can to make Him go away, even if that means physically hurting or killing Him.
We’re called to be like Christ. We’re called to sacrificially love others, which entails opening ourselves up to abuse – just like Jesus did. But we do it because we are given Jesus’ heart for the lost. We’re given the heart and the power to love those who hate us. We don’t do it perfectly like Jesus did, but we grow in Him as we grow in our love for others. And that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be more like Jesus.
So in 2008 I made some decisions which opened my life up to suffering, and boy, did I suffer. I volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan in 2009 and saw things that changed my life. It was the worst experience of my life. My faith took a huge hit, to the point where I almost lost it. Almost.
I don’t have time to write about that whole story now, but God used it to show me so much of Himself. He also showed me how little I can trust in my own power. Those lessons came through a lot of pain, but they were GOOD lessons.
So when I read Philippians, you can imagine what kind of thoughts it conjures up. And you can also see why one day in a reading plan is nowhere close to sufficient in terms of growing more like Jesus through what it teaches.
Springs AF Navs 