Philippians 1 : 9-11

Let's just start reading. Verse 9...And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, (10) so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, (11) filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. GOSH these verses are crazy deep! It's his prayer that we will abound in our love for Christ, in our depth and our Christianity. So much of that is just having a personal relationship with God, and SO much of that is having just a quiet time with Him, DAILY. It's also serving, but that is something that comes from loving Jesus. Now why? Why should we be growing constantly??? Well I've heard it said life is like a treadmill. If you're not going forward, you're going backwards and you'll eventually fall off. And I really believe that with relationships. And if we aren't growing in Christ, we will eventually not have one, and without that, we are so lost! And in verse 10 it warns us, we need to be able to discern what's best, we need the Holy Spirit in us showing us what is good, right, true, and pure! The media today is so scary how it can appear so innocent, but truly twist your mind and bring you "just a little more", "just a little worse"...and soon you don't realize when it's not good! And when it says pure and blameless until the day of Christ, that means alot to me. To be innocent, to be pure and blameless. And it really hurts me because, am I actually pure? Are you blameless? Have you seperated yourself from evil? Have you kept your mind clean when no one is looking? Because maybe your pastor doesn't know what you've looked or read or done that week, so he won't kick you off the worship team, but does that put you in a different cateragory in Christ's mind? Yes, it does! And does that give a horrible feeling in your stomach? I HOPE IT DOESNT! And maybe it will for a second, but I have to remember that when I apologize and repent, and turn the other way, Jesus basically scrunches up a paper that has my wrong written on it, and throws it a fire...and it burns, and you can't fix a burnt paper. It's gone, it's ashes, and it rots into the ground. :) And in 11 it says "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ." AGAIN it's about us and God having a relationship, it's us talking with Him and reading His Words. I like to think of the Bible like a HUGE letter, and I can't read it all in one day, otherwise I won't pay enough attention to all of it, but I can't just throw it away, it's a special kind of letter...and I can even re-read things and savor them just as much. It's a crazy kind, and it's a kind you can't describe, and it's a kind that you can share the facts with but not the same feeling...and it's addicting, :), and it's perfect. And it was written for you. And you know what else? It was written with love. And forgiveness