What Paul Wanted Them to Remember
Daily Scripture
Philippians 4:21-23
Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters with me send you their greeting. All God’s people here, especially those in Caesar’s household, send you their greeting. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Paul had spent four chapters asking a lot of the Philippians. Joy in hard circumstances. Humility. Unity. Contentment. Generosity.
He closed with greetings first. One from the believers with him. One from every believer in that city. One from people inside Caesar’s own household, the same household that held the power to decide whether Paul lived or died.
He didn’t know which way that would go. He was writing as a prisoner awaiting a verdict, with no guarantee he’d ever see the Philippians again.
Then he wrote his last line. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits. Paul had opened this letter the same way, with grace, before he’d asked the Philippians for anything at all.
The word spirit here is singular. Paul named something meant to reach each person individually, not a blessing tossed out to the group at once.
Paul wasn’t asking the Philippians to prove they’d gotten it right by the end of the letter. We don’t have to reach some finish line of spiritual performance, mastering joy, or humility, or contentment, before God’s acceptance applies to us. It’s already ours, now, not pending approval based on how this week goes.
- Paul closed this letter not knowing whether he’d live or see the Philippians again, and he still ended on grace rather than on anything he’d accomplished. Where in your life are you still waiting to feel like you’ve earned enough certainty or progress before you’ll believe you’re already accepted by God?
- The grace Paul named at the end was the same grace he named at the beginning, not something added once he ran out of instructions. What would change this week if you believed you were already accepted by God before you did anything at all?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for accepting me before I did anything to earn it. Help me stop waiting to deserve what you gave from the start. Thank you for staying near even in uncertainty, the way you stayed near Paul while he waited for a verdict he couldn’t predict. Show me where I’ve been treating your grace like a reward for keeping up, instead of something you’ve already given me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Angie McCarty
Angie McCarty serves as the Location Pastor for Resurrection Spring Hill.
The world lost a prophet, preacher and friend the day popular author Rachel Held Evans died at far too young an age. Rachel was the champion of people who struggled with a church that offered trite platitudes rather than wrestling with the realities of the human condition. Through brilliance masked by humor, she brought the church at its best to a world in need. She tackled difficult progressive topics and lost friends in the process. Yet she was content to not have all the answers to matters of faith.
Yes, I’m a fan girl who hopped on the Rachel Held Evans train too late. I’m confident we would have been fast friends.
Here’s one of the many things she wrote about grace: “It becomes a doctrine we defend rather than a virtue we exhibit; an idea around which we rally rather than the animating force behind how we live.”*
Much like the writer of the book of James (2:6) claimed that faith without works is dead, grace without action is not grace. Showing grace is not a feeling. It is an action. Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God and as far as we can in our flawed humanity, we are called to extend the same to God’s people. But people will only know that we are offering grace if we show it through our actions.
What does grace look like? It looks like offering a smile to someone who is a total stranger. It looks like offering to babysit for a couple who hasn’t gone out since they became parents. It looks like sitting with an elderly person and asking them to share their greatest accomplishments in life. It means saying, “Help me understand your point of view.” It means being quiet and listening rather than jumping to a response. It looks like a casserole after surgery or out of the blue for no reason.
It looks like love in action. Grace is the force behind our Love One Another campaign. We have received God’s grace so that we can show God’s grace. Be bold in showing grace as we Love One Another.
*Rachel Held Evans,,When grace is just a doctrine, July 2011
