Dear Friends

Hello, friends! Thank you for participating in this online conversation with God! You may wonder what happened to Friday's entry. Blogger (the site that hosts this blog) was having technical problems Friday and wasn't allowing anyone to post new entries that day. But we're back up and running today, so let's dive right in!

I'm listening to what God is saying in Philippians 3:17 through 4:3. Let's listen together. Read it through several times so that you'll not miss anything and it can soak into your heart. What is especially relevant to you right now? What I am noticing most is the impression God is giving me of how his people should interact. Particularly these instructions:

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel...whose names are in the book of life. (4:2-3)

We can't always agree with each other on every matter. But we can agree in the Lord. In other words, we can agree that what is more important than the issue we disagree about is the relationship we have in the Lord. We can value the spiritual bond between us--created by Jesus at great personal expense--more highly than the satisfaction of winning the argument. Most disagreements can be worked out if we'll just value the relationship enough to invest a little time and risk the discomfort of a face-to-face conversation.

What I have witnessed in church life is the sad reality that this often isn't the case. When some friction happens between us, many people will simply walk away and slam the door on the relationship without having made much, if any, effort to work things out. What God is impressing on me in this text is that the reason people are so quick to do that is that they severly undervalue the relationships he gives us in the body of Christ. A lot of that is the consequence of living in a culture of disposable relationships. Real commitment is hard to come by even in marriages, much less in friendships and relationships within Christ's church. Another factor is that the sheer number of churches in most communities creates a temptation to take the easy way out and just leave and go elsewhere. Our affluent society also gives us this illusion of independence and the mistaken feeling that we don't really need each other. So few deep, lasting relationships form between us. Many make it their intention to keep others at arm's length and just maintain surface-level relationships. After all, that kind of relationship is easy to walk away from when they get uncomfortable. But what are we missing out on? At what expense do these shallow, disposable relationships come?

Just some of the terms used in this text reveal the depth of the relationships that were enjoyed among Christ's early followers. The apostle calls them "brothers." He doesn't just talk about his own personal relationship with God and his own future but speaks of what they share together in Jesus: "our citizenship is in heaven...we eagerly await a Savior from there." He comes right out and tells them he loves them and longs to see them. He calls them his "joy and crown" and refers to them as "dear friends." He sees them as his spiritual partners whose "names are in the book of life."

How would it feel to be part of a fellowship that felt this way about each other? If we did, how much richer would we be as members of the human community? And when some conflict came up between us, we would be much more likely to work it out than walk away. We may not be able to see eye to eye on something, but we can still stand shoulder to shoulder as part of the family of God. And that's when you know you really have something.

Please share with us what God is saying to you in this text. Comment below!