Looking at Christ

  Other-centredness is a big theme in the letter to the Philippians. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Phil. 1:8-10) The 'you' and 'yours' are all plural. Paul is saying that as your love as a community abounds more and more you will be able to discern as a community what’s best next . Working out what is best next is not a solo thing. It happens in community. So as you explore gospel work: Seek the wisdom of your church family and leadership; Fully involve your spouse and children in the journey (if you have them) – they need to be on board from the beginning and all through; Listen carefully to family members and honour your parents (even if they are not Christians). And just as love drives good decision making, so love also sh...

 When I ask, “What’s next?” it means I’m ready to move onto other things. (President Bartlet, The West Wing) At a career crossroads? Coming to the end of a period of studies or a ministry traineeship? Wondering whether to take the plunge into full time gospel work? At these times, as at all times, the Father calls his children not to lean on their own understanding but to trust in the Lord; specifically by bringing to mind his Word and having it on our heart (see Prov. 3:1-7 and Deut. 6:1-12 to which it alludes). And as we turn to his Word we find there a repeated call to ‘consider’ – to change our direction of gaze, to think carefully along new lines, to see things from a new (godly) perspective (Deut. 11:2; Luke 12:24, 27; Heb. 3:1; 10:24). So here are six things (in this and the following series of posts) to consider from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians which provide some possible ‘next step’ outboxes but more importantly provide some biblical ‘lines of sight’ and f...