What is the Message we Should be Living?

There is value in returning to the basics of what we say we believe and live. God has been continuing to take me back to that. A few days ago, I wrote about what our lives should be all about – that they should be all about God’s glory and God’s fame. He does His work in our lives to point to Himself, not to make us great. (You can read that post here).

The question I’ve been pondering lately since then is: What is the message I should be sharing with the world around me? And what does it look like to do that?

Whether it’s in the words we say or the things we choose to do or not do, our lives and our words are preaching  message to the world around us. What is that message? The one I’m currently sharing with the world? And does it line up with the one I should be sharing as someone who claims to be a follower of Christ?

Paul talks about the message that we should be sharing many times in his letters to the early church in various cities.

“. . . but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who dies for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-18)

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:7-10)

As I dig into God’s Word to find an answer to my question, it comes back to one thing – the core message is Christ crucified and risen. And through that, forgiveness of sin – God’s grace that allows us to enter His presence.

Whatever I’m doing, whatever I’m saying, it should all be pointing back to the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This doesn’t change just because I’m not someone gifted in evangelism or called to preach from a pulpit. In my ever day life, I should be living and speaking this to the people around me. That is the message that my life should be all about.

Back to the Basics

What is the core of everything our lives should be about as followers of Christ? What should our lives be all about?

I've been pondering this question a lot lately. As a person who loves to wrestle with the lard truths and the passages of Scripture that can sometimes be challenging to understand, it can be easy for me to miss what my life should really be all about. Wrestling these Scriptures out is a good thing - a necessary thing. But it becomes a problem if it's all I do.

Sometimes, I need to, we all need to go back to the basics and remind ourselves of what that is.

In Luke 4, Jesus quoted words from the prophet Isaiah and stated that day they were fulfilled in their hearing (Luke 4:16-21). As I look back in Isaiah to the passage Jesus read, it becomes clear that the basics are all about Jesus.

     "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
          because the Lord has anointed me
          to proclaim good news to the poor.
     He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
          to proclaim freedom for the captives
          and release from darkness for the prisoners,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour
          and the day of vengeance for our God,
     to comfort all who mourn,
          and provide for those who grieve in Zion -
     to bestow on them a crown of beauty
          instead of ashes,
     the oil of joy
          instead of mourning,
     and a garment of praise
          instead of a spirit of despair.
     They will be called oaks of righteousness,
          a planting of the Lord
          for the display of His splendor.
     They will rebuild the ancient ruins
          and restore the places long devastated;
     they will renew ruined cities
          that have been devastated for generations."
                                                                (Isaiah 61:1-4)

Jesus began His ministry by declaring He had come to do exactly these things.

These verses in Isaiah also give us a reason why Jesus came to do these things. Verse 3 tells us that we "will be call oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." It's the last phrase that is important here.

Everything God does in our lives is about His glory and renown. About it making His name great.

When we get back to the basics of what our lives as followers of Christ should be all about, this is what it comes back to. It's all about making God's fame and glory known. Whatever we say and do has to be all about making God known and for His glory. If we start there, then we're starting in the right place.

Change Your Perspective

Two steps forward . . . one step back . . . one step forward . . . two steps back . . . two steps forward . . . one step back.

Life often feels this way - especially our spiritual lives. We gain some ground in an area and then we discover we're going back again. If we notice, we can change direction again before we go all the way back.

In those moments, it can feel like we'll never get beyond this - like we'll always struggle in that specific area. We feel that because we're only seeing a small part of the whole. In that moment when we feel like we failed again all we see is the distance between where we were and where we are now. The distance we fell.

But, we're missing the bigger picture when that's all we're looking at. We're only seeing the distance we fell, not the greater distance we've come. That greater distance can only be seen when we pull back from the immediate. It requires us to change our perspective.

Changing our perspective doesn't mean we ignore what just happened or pretend it's not big deal. Changing our perspective gives us the motivation to get up and keep moving forward. As we see the journey we've been on that includes many moments of what looks and felt like going backwards, but we also see that overall we've been moving forward.

In those moments when we've fallen and gone backwards, we can be assured that we follow a God who gives us the opportunity to get up and try again, with Him helping us move on. Many of our heroes in the Bible have this as their story - Abraham, Moses, David, to name a few. They all had failures and struggles, but they got back up and kept going with God.

In our moments of greatest failure and struggle, we easily get discouraged if we focus only on the failure or the struggle. But, when we remember all that ground we have already covered with God walking with us, we have the courage to get back up and keep going.

Sometimes to change our perspective, we have to be intentional about remembering it all. We have to go back and remind ourselves of it all. Remind ourselves where we were and how far we've gone with God. Remind ourselves of all the second, third, tenth, hundredth chances God has given us and how eventually we walked it the way God was trying to take us.

Where are you right now?
Can you see the bigger picture of the whole journey?
Or are you lost in the latest failure or struggle and in need of a perspective change?

Shining Like a Light in the Dark

This is the last in a series on Philippians 2. You can read previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.


"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, 'children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.' Then you will shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:14-16)

These verses seem fairly straightforward. It's clear, but not so easy to live out. These verses go against our natural way of living.

Complaining and arguing are defaults for many of us most of the time. We easily see the negative in things. It's easy to join in on the conversations that focus on everything that's wrong with our lives and the world around us.

But Paul is saying that we should be doing everything without complaining or arguing. That's quite the task. Instead of seeing the negative and talking only about it, we need to be looking for the good in things - in everything.

The good news is that we don't have to try to live like this on our own. God in us gives us the strength to do everything without complaining and arguing. As the verses just before this one remind us, "it is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to His good purpose." (vs. 13). It is God in us Who enables us to do everything without complaining or arguing.

As we continue to live the way God calls us to, we become blameless and pure. It's about the process of moving in this direction, not a one time thing.

We learn to live this way and we become lights shining in a dark world. Lights that point people to God. We hold onto God's truth and live out His ways. And as we do so, we become beacons of light in a crooked and depraved generation. Lights that point people toward the truth.

God Working in Us

This is Part 4 in a series on Philippians 2. You can read the previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.


"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." (Philippians 2:12-13).

What does Paul mean when he says we should "work out our salvation with fear and trembling"? Why with fear and trembling? Why do we need to work out our salvation?

When we choose to accept the gift God offers us through Jesus Christ, we are saved - our salvation is complete. But, the process of learning to live the way Christ wants us to is just beginning. We are continually being changed to be more like Christ as we follow Him.

We need to take seriously the gift we have been given and seek God. We choose to follow and obey what He has told us. When Paul says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, this is what he's talking about. It's about taking seriously living the life that God has asked us to live as His followers.

The good news is that we don't have to do this in our own strength. We have God in us being our strength to live that out. It's not about us trying harder to do it. It's about us allowing God to work in us.

We choose to follow God and take Him seriously. That's our part. Then He becomes the strength we need to live the way He calls us to.

What is True Humility?

This is Part 3 in a series on Philippians 2. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.


We don't like the word humility. We don't want to talk about it or think about it. But it comes up consistently in Scripture. Because of this, it becomes clear that humility is key in living our lives following Christ's example.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)

Paul calls his readers to humility in how they treat one another. He then goes on to point to the ultimate example of humility - Jesus Christ - in the verses that come next.

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5)

Being willing to give up everything to serve others and love others. Not seeking to make a name or ourselves, but for God. This is what humility really is. Seeking to serve and love others to make God known, not ourselves.

So, what does it look like to follow Jesus' example of humility? How do we live if we are following His example?

Philippians 2:6-8 says,

     "Who, being in very nature God,
          did not consider equality with God
               something to be grasped;
     rather, He made Himself nothing
          by taking the very nature of a servant,
          being made in human likeness.
     And being found in appearance as a man,
          He humbled Himself
          by becoming obedient to death -
              even death on a cross!"

Jesus gave up all the rights and privileged that came with being God's Son and came to earth as a man. He experienced things as we do living on earth. He didn't come as a king expecting to be served. He wasn't born into a family with status. Jesus didn't come expecting the world to do everything He wanted and serve His every need.

Jesus came to serve and love us! He gave up everything He had so that He could purchase us back from the bondage we were in. He came to free us. And that meant coming to serve us.

This is what true humility looks like. Coming to serve and love others at personal cost. It's not about thinking of ourselves as having no value. But it is, as Paul says earlier, about "[valuing] others above ourselves." (vs. 3). We put others first, as we seek to love and serve them.

We Are One

This is Part 2 of a series on Philippians 2. You can read Part 1 here.


Philippians 2 begins with a call for unity as followers of Christ. Paul is asking his readers in the church at Philippi to be unified, to work together for the good news of the gospel. The same thing is asked of us today as we read this passage.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in His Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. (vs 1-2)

Paul emphasizes the reasons why we should be unified in these verses. He points out what forms the foundation of our unity as believers in Christ.

We have been united with Christ. When we choose to accept the gift God offers us through His Son, we are united with Christ. The One who paid the debt of our sins for us. This is the reality for all of us who claim to follow Christ.

We are all loved by God. And that love is equal for each of us because we are His creation. We are all equal before God and He loves us all the same. We don't have to do anything to try to earn His love. He loves us anyways. There is comfort in that. And it puts us all on level ground as believers.

We all have the Holy Spirit in us. When we accepted God's gift we were given the Holy Spirit. All of us have the Holy Spirit in us to guide us and give us wisdom if we choose to listen.

Because of the great gifts we have been given by God, we are filled with tenderness and compassion towards others. We have received tenderness and compassion from God and it begins to flow out of us and change the way we interact with others.

Paul is telling the church at Philippi that these are reasons why they should be united - "being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind." He's not telling them they all have to be exactly the same. Paul is saying that the motive and the reason behind what they do should be the same.

As followers of Christ, we should all have the same purpose, we should all be working towards the same thing -  even if the specifics of how we do it looks different.

Unity doesn't mean clones. It doesn't mean everyone does exactly the same thing in the same way. It means we are all working together, in our own way and roles, toward a common purpose. That is the unity Paul is speaking of here.

Follow Christ's Example

Following Christ and following His example and teaching of how to live is a high calling. We're called to live in a way that is counter-cultural.

When I was at Bible college, the words of Philippians 2 became familiar. My first year, part of this chapter was the theme verse for my hall. And my second year, a large part of it was the theme for the entire school. Philippians 2 is a chapter I find myself returning to continually and finding that there is still more I can learn from it.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
     Who, being in very nature God,
          did not consider equality with God
               something to be grasped;
     rather, He made Himself nothing
          by taking the very nature of a servant,
          being made in human likeness.
     And being found in appearance as a man,
         He humbled Himself
         be becoming obedient to death -
              even death on a cross!
     Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place
         and gave Him the name that is above every name,
     that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
         in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
     and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
         to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God in a crooked and depraved generation." Then you will shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour in vain.
                                                                                      -Philippians 2:1-16

In these words, Paul calls the church at Philippi to a high standard of living. And that same call is extended to us. It's a standard we can't meet on our own, but Paul also speaks of how we get what we need to live it in this passage. Thankfully, we can assured that God will "work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose." (vs. 13). It's not up to our own willpower to do this. It's God in us.

For the next while, some of my posts are going to take a look at exactly what is being said in this passage and how God is calling us to live as His followers.

Our Need for a Place & a Way to Refresh

Coffee grinders buzz as beans are ground to make the next drink. Metal spoons bang against cups of steamed milk poured out to make the next drink. The scent of fresh ground coffee fills the air. Murmurs of conversations around me. Moments of silence where the music is heard clearly after being drowned out by other noise before.

Some people call this place my office. Some call it my second home. Some are so used to seeing me there, they wonder when I'm not.

Coffee shops have easily become a favourite space for me.

A place for conversation with a friend.

A place to read a book.

A place to write.

A place to hear from God.

People walking by my table. Some in a hurry - grabbing a cup of coffee for the rush to the next place. Some take their time - lingering with a friend or a good book. Those who know exactly what they want and those still undecided.

Hot or cold? Tea? Just coffee? Or a special drink? Any food with it?

I watch the people coming in as I sit and sip my latte. Such diversity of people coming in. I wonder why they come.

Why do you choose a busy coffee shop over the quiet of your house? It's a question I'm asked regularly. It's a logical one. My house is as quiet or as loud as I choose for it to be. It seems a good place to think or wrote or read or pray.

But it's also filled with distractions . . . the dishwasher that needs emptying, the floor that needs vacuuming, the laundry that needs doing, the computer or TV vying for my time. For me, sometimes I just need to leave those things behind. Other times I can put them aside and remain at my home.

The truth is, I think we all have places we like to go or things we like to do to escape the demands of everyday life. We need those place and activities. They renew and refresh us, so we have the energy and perspective fro the daily demands of life. As long as our escapes are realistic in time and don't cause harm to us or others, they are beneficial to our lives, even necessary.

For me, that escape is often to a coffee shop to read or write or pray for a couple hours. For others, it might be a hike or a run or a bubble-bath at home. We all need these times if we're going to live the life we've been given to live by God. We weren't created to go nonstop without a break or time to refresh.

Where is that place for you? What is the activity you do to refresh?