WEDNESDAY July 3rd
Philippians 1:9-11
‘And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.’
We come to the third point in Paul’s prayer, ‘That they may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ’.
Who we are is determined by the fact that we have come to know Jesus as our personal Saviour, and as such we have become the children of God. But what we do as his children is important. For we are his representatives here on earth.
When the unbelieving world look on us and the way we behave, the things that we may say, even the company we may choose to keep does it reflect something to them of the relationship we have with God as our heavenly Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour—or do these things betray the wonder of the gospel and the transformation we say has happened.
Now, not one of us can reach the point of sinlessness or perfection while here on earth, but we should strive to be all we can to ensure that when Christ comes again, he will see us as ready to be made pure and blameless. In other words, we should be seeking to live in such a way that our lives will not be betraying the gospel but bringing glory to God.
I guess most of us will recall the trend that did the rounds in Christian circles a few years back, it involved wearing something that had the initials WWJD. We will remember what it meant, ‘What would Jesus do!’
Well, the answer is found in scripture, Jesus said this in John 8:29 ‘And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.’
And in God could say concerning Jesus in both Luke 2 at his baptism in the Jordan and in Matthew 17 on the mount of transfiguration ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’
We too need to do that which pleases our heavenly Father, so that we may be found pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
I want, dear Lord, a heart that’s true and clean.
A sunlit heart with not a cloud between,
A heart like thine, a heart divine, a heart as white as snow,
On me, dear Lord, a heart like this bestow.