Attitude

Philippians 3:1  Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard......

Php 3:10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11  if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12  Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13  Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15  Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16  Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. 17  Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

Paul invites the Philippians to “have the same mind” (Php 3:15). The verb phroneo translates as “mind” or “perspective”, or “point of view” – but Good News translation uses “attitude”: here is the invitation to develop an attitude towards life. Paul says this is an attitude that lets go of the past, and looks to the future.

In Philippians Chapter Three he suggests that past achievements do not make anyone more important in the present. Neither do past failures prevent future success. As we learn to let go of the past, we are able to discover a new future that is shaped by the call of God on our lives. His suggestion is that we take hold of life, trusting that Jesus has already taken hold of us. In other words, we will not fall if we reach out to the future – because Jesus has hold of us.

Prayer thought:

Simply trusting every day;
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

          Trusting as the moments fly,
          Trusting as the days go by,
          Trusting Him, whate’er befall,
          Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Edgar Page Stites (1836-1921)

The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

The Rewards of Ministry

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 84.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.