This is a loving yet firm piece of advise given to the church at Philippi by the beloved Apostle Paul. As Philippians is often reffered to as the epistle of joy, it is evident that that joy is made manifest only through the radical lifestyle that is lived by those who bear the name of Christ. The word conversation used here is appropriate as it is in our conversation that our life is made manifest. We are reminded in the gospels how the Lord said "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."Matt 12:34. Then He went on to say in Matt 12:37 "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
In our day and age we are faced with persecution of a different sort. Technology, fossil evidence and humanism have continued to bombard the world with doubts in regards to faith in Christ, creation and God's order for man. It has, as in the French Revolution, replaced the Cross with the goddess of reason on the altar of worship. The faithful are constantly pressed in with insults and mockery for our belief in morality(good conversation) and holiness. Movies that once tested the waters with soft vulgarity like Clark Gable's statement on the movie Gone with the Wind, "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", now come out fully in the open with all manners of vulgarity both verbal and physical. The difference today (which I find more dangerous) is that these liberties are not liberties but accepted norms. Needless to say, its easy with such bombardment for some of us (if not all of us) to cave in and find a middle ground to accept the lesser evils and reject the greater. However like the frog in the boiling pot, eventually the greater evils become lesser and continue to do so until we find our entire being (esp. spiritual) altered where we look and converse no different from the world.
God give us a love so deep for You that our conversation will be ordered because of that and not because of some religious rule. Burn a fire deep in our heart and open our eyes to the needs of a dying world that our conversation before them would give them the hope that comes from the Cross and Ressurection of our Lord, the hope and peace of the world. For what You say is truth. GR
1 comment:
Great blog, Guy! You always were a deep thinker... :-D. The world continues to worsen in so many ways, and it would be easy to end up like Lot, just barely righteous and needing to be rescued, instead of burning bright with God's love and holiness. Help us infect our world, Lord! And bless you and Jen...
Your friend,
-Carter
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