E for Effort

As I read Philippians 1 & 2, it was surprising to me how many words or concepts in these chapters begin with one repeated letter. If you Google the most frequently used letter in our alphabet, the English language has a favorite one, and it’s apparently the vowel E.

Paul didn’t write in English, so I don’t believe E has any divine meaning behind it, but if I were looking for a way to remember the topics from these first two chapters in Philippians, I’d start with E.

I pray,

Eager to see what only

Eternity will complete.

Embracing love more, may your

Excellent lives bear their fruit.

I know

Each of my trials bring joy,

Envy or good will aside.

Even by life or death, our

Eternal Christ is proclaimed.

I am

Encouraged by Him who was 

Equal with God, and yet He

Emptied Himself to His death,

Even to death on a cross.

He was

Exalted by God above

Every name known in the

Earth and the heavens, so that

Every knee bows to Him.

It’s not

Easy to shine, just like these: 

Epaphroditus and Tim.

Endure, yet be sure that the

Effort’s all Christ’s, and He won. 

A Childlike Week

Especially on Mondays, I wake up with the weight of the week on my shoulders. It’s not that there’s always a crisis I’m bracing for up ahead, but that there are so many contexts I’m embracing up ahead. Home, work, church, friends, neighborhood…each one calls for attention, and I want to give it fully. But how to give myself to each one at the right time, in the right way, meeting the right need, is often what concerns me on a Monday morning. 

Today as God met me, Ephesians 5:1 & 2 spoke the direction I need for this week:

“Therefore be imitators of God…”

In my home, imitate God

In my work, imitate God

In my church, imitate God

In my friendships, imitate God

In my neighborhood, imitate God

So this is supposed to be helpful?! You might say it sounds like an unreachable standard. Yet, it’s the next phrase that brings it down to scale:

“...as beloved children,”

Little children stick close, wide-eyed to their parents’ actions, words, and body language.  They don’t overanalyze or second guess whether it was specifically in one context or another that their parents’ behavior applied, and so they indiscriminately imitate them. Blunders abound. Laughter abounds. Parents blush in embarrassment.

But God invites our eager, childlike imitation of Him, because His character and actions are applicable in every context, no filter necessary. It’s how Jesus lived on earth: “...whatever the Father does, the Son does also.” John 5:19.

When I stick close, wide-eyed to God Himself, what I’ll see in Him is love, as Paul continues in verse 2:

“and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us…”

Giving up self in imitation of God applies in every context of my week. Surely, blunders will abound when I’m more childish than childlike, but my Father is with me every step to pick me back up and show me the way again. “For I the Lord your God hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, ‘fear not; I am the one who helps you.’” Isaiah 41:13

Every Day

Memorial Day 

May 27, 2024

There’s no way a holiday can serve as sufficient consolation to the moms and dads, wives and husbands, children and relatives who have lost family members to the cause of freedom. But it is our day of recognition - a marker on the calendar to reflect on the personal losses that have been endured for the sake of nation-wide gains. 

To really sit in that proves just how much a “thank you” is inadequate and payback, impossible.  Whether we’re continuing our regular work rhythms today or stopping to celebrate with picnics and fireworks, both of these everyday American activities are reasons to be grateful for all of the families missing someone in their day, every day.

We may not know you, but we honor you.

The Lord’s Prayer

I usually rush into prayer, driven by all I need, and I miss the worshipful focus that Jesus teaches us to begin with in His famous Lord’s Prayer. I want to worship, but I feel so needy. It’s a lofty goal to hallow God’s name when what I really need is daily bread. It sounds too distant to ask for His kingdom when immediate relationships need healing. His will is a foreign path in a world that tempts to define my course.

But if we allow God’s name to inform us about bread, His kingdom to teach us about forgiveness, and His will to guide us into deliverance, we can unite our divided desires and come to God in worshipful neediness.

“Our Father, what kind of love is this to be called Your children!? 

You’re a Father who doesn’t play favorites with Your family, 

yet You lavish me with individual attention as if I’m an only child. 

I am here on earth, but You hold me in your gaze from heaven.

May Your Name be seen as holy when I live in unusual obedience, 

because I believe You for my urgent needs like daily bread.

May all who watch my reactions to life’s lows and to your provision in them,

wonder at the Name I carry.

May Your kingdom come, first ruling in my heart

to reveal who I am: Your debtor turned daughter.

May I draw from the treasury of Your forgiveness of me

to spend it on behalf of any sin against me.

May Your will be done, here in my life on this broken earth 

where temptation is rampant and evil rules the night.

Deliver me to overcome like Your Son from heaven,

because I belong to You, and it all belongs to You.

Amen.”

Matthew 6:9-13; Numbers 20:2-13; Matthew 18:23-35; Matthew 4:1-17

Wisdom’s Body Parts

On Proverbs 4:23-27

In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is passed from one generation to the next. I imagine the father in chapter 4 reading from his scroll like he’s handing off a baton to his son for the next leg of the race.  These were more than phrases to pause and memorize and more than sage-like sayings to stop and admire; these were words to live. 

Wisdom itself lived in a physical body when “Christ Jesus…became to us wisdom from God…” Jesus epitomizes Proverbs. His life is passed on to us as more than truth to study; His life means transformation in mine (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31). So if Jesus is wisdom, and Jesus powerfully lives in me, how can His wisdom affect each part of my body?

Wisdom in My Heart 

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (4:23) 

Isaiah uses this word for guard when he explains that God watches over His people like a skilled gardener. Day and night, He tends to them and waters them so nothing destroys them. He’s alert to their condition, threats, and needs, and He does what’s necessary to protect them so that they thrive (Isaiah 27:3). 

Through Jesus, I tend to the garden of my heart so that life flourishes from it.

Wisdom in My Mouth

“Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from you.” (4:24)

The same Spirit of wisdom inspired Paul to write centuries later to God’s people, “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather, thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:4) 

Through Jesus, I throw out leftover perversion and excuse myself from the table of thankless conversation.

Wisdom in My Eyes 

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” (4:25)

Mankind’s downfall came through the eyes, and humanity was marred for the rest of time: “[Eve] saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye…” (Genesis 3:6) 

Through Jesus, I focus on His ways to avoid the disaster of going my own way. 

Wisdom in My Feet 

“Give careful thought to the paths for your feet, and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” (4:26,27)

“...your ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all your paths.” (Proverbs 5:21) We evaluate our steps together with the Lord, not all on our own, and it’s both a comfort and an accountability to know His eyes are on our feet.

Through Jesus, I rake out obstacles that could deter me or trip me so that my next step is stable. 

Because of Jesus’ wisdom in us, “let not the wise man boast in his wisdom…but, let him who boasts, boast in… the Lord.”  (see Jeremiah 9:23,24)