Further down in verses 13-16 we find out that “It is God who produces in you the desires
and actions that please him”, and that we are to do these things without
complaining or hesitation, all the while
“holding forth the Word of life.” (Philippians
2:13 God’s Word © & KJV)
Those two portions
of scripture from Revelation and Philippians easily went together in my way of
thinking. To summarize, it would seem
that our heavenly Father is encouraging us to give thanks in all things because
we trust explicitly in Him, are seeking His best for our lives, are being obedient
to His directions without grumbling and without hesitation and are therefore
demonstrating the light of His love in the midst of the corruption of this
world that surrounds us. A commentary in
“The People’s New Testament” states
that the idea behind the command of “Holding
forth the word of life.” is that we are “always
preaching Christ in word, in life and in deed.” That kind of incorporates everything we do doesn’t
it?
When I kicked back
in my chair and thought on all of this earlier today, I pictured how our having
a thankful attitude prepares the way for us to act out His will in the daily occurrences
of our lives. It is like hitting the
pause button of your DVR, reversing the scene and then viewing it again in slow
motion so you can catch some details that you might have missed.
I was also reminded
of an event that seemed to be a perfect example of this that happened many
years ago when our oldest son was probably around five years old. It was a Saturday afternoon when we had just
finished hosting a birthday party for our youngest daughter. It must have been her third birthday! We had invited many of her friends along with
their parents and siblings and had a typical experience with a house and yard
full of kids running all over, lots of noise, ice cream spilled on the kitchen
floor next to all the scuff marks ground into the linoleum and a back yard
filled with toys, discarded present wrappings and bits of cake and candy that our
Sheltie had not yet discovered!
All in all it had
been a GREAT day! After everyone had left and our son had gone
across the street to continue playing in the backyard of his little friend, my
wife and I plopped down exhaustedly contented on the couch with our sleeping
daughter in Piper’s arms. When we began
to reminisce about the day, the phone in the hallway suddenly rang. When I answered it, I heard our neighbor’s
voice from across the street calmly telling me that Josh had fallen off their
backyard table and cut his head and was bleeding rather profusely!
When we got to
their yard we discovered that the boys had been playing secret agents with
plastic guns and that when Josh fell, the gun actually cut his forehead. Well, the gash looked pretty ugly so we left
Jamie with our neighbor and the three of us headed over a couple of blocks to
the local hospital emergency room.
Everything and everybody was doing fine until the doctor examined the
wound and stated that it would need stiches.
That’s when things began to deteriorate!
Josh started squirming
when they took out the needle so they put a type of jacket on him that would
restrain his movements in order for them to safely complete the job. At that point he began to shout out “Daddy!
Daddy! Don’t let them do it
Daddy!” When I looked over at my
normally rock-steady wife, she had turned white, was sweating profusely and was
getting quite wobbly on her feet. She
looked at me and then at the attending doctor and said “I’m going to go over in that corner and sit on the floor…” Well, the doctor would have none of that and
turned to a nurse and rather pointedly told her “to get her (my wife) out of here!”
To which my wife instantly began to resist as she didn’t want to leave
her son!
What was
interesting to me was that in the midst of all this confusion I found myself
verbally repeating over and over again: “Thank
you Jesus, thank you Jesus!” By now
I am sure that the doctor must have thought that he was dealing with a bunch of
Looney tunes! But I didn’t care at that
point. It was as if everything unfolding
around me suddenly went into slow motion!
I was able to comfort my wife and encourage her to take care of herself
in the waiting room and that all would be okay with Josh. Then I went to Josh’s side and was able to give
him the reassuring words that helped him to relax and let the doctor do the
job. In what then seemed to be just a
little while, it was all over and we were laughing about it in the car as we
headed home!
To me, the ability
to give thanks to God at the very beginning of a situation allows you to tap
into His will, power, love and strength so that you can do what He wants and
needs you to do. It gives you the heads
up to look toward Him and not at yourself or the events before you. I believe that it is the key that gives you
the awareness to be a part of God’s solution instead of adding to the problem.
What do you
think? I personally like the idea of
being part of the solution, don’t you?
We heard a sermon last night that encouraged us with the thought that we
are actually the carriers of His will on this earth. That truth makes me desire to enter into a
situation not with the thought of what I or anyone else did wrong to cause it,
but instead with the encouragement, confidence and faith that I can be used of
God to bring His fix into it! I like
that!
Have a great
day. Stay in tune to His Word and keep
asking yourself… “What am I expecting TO
DO for Him today?”
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