The two sides of everything

THE SECURE MIND -- or Worry Robs Joy

Philippians 4

"Therefore my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."

What's the "therefore" there for?  It is often the wrapping up of a thought in previous verses.  Paul has just wrapped up a section of his letter talking about having a spiritual mind and keeping our focus on Heaven.  He has just been writing with many comparisons:  Paul had so many things to feel good and confident about yet he counted them as wasteful (vs 2-7), he had put off the righteousness he had earned through the Law and turned to righteousness through faith (vs 8-9), he knew that no matter how hard he tried or how much he grew spiritually he would never be everything that God wanted him to be (vs 10-), and he reminded the church that some who say they are followers of God are really focused on the wrong things (vs 17-19).  In verses 20-21 he gives a clear contrast about how we will be changed into the image of God when we are with Him.

So....because of all those things, he tells them to stand fast in the Lord.  The Lord God never ever changes.  We can count on Him being the same yesterday, today and forever.  In chapter 3, Paul is going back and forth showing the one side of things and then the other.  He wants to clearly show what is undesirable compared to what is spiritual.  Showing the opposite extremes is a very effective method of teaching.  It helps us figure out what must be separated out in order to have the spiritual mind we are desiring.  It helps us create a mental picture of what the negative side "looks like" and what the desirable side "looks like."  Now that he has made it crystal clear to us what a spiritual mind looks like, he is going to give us further instruction on how to become that.

Also notice that Paul refers to the church in Philippi two times in the same verse as "my dearly beloved."  This reinforces how well he knew this group of people.  He wasn't just randomly writing a lesson, but he was personally giving instruction in a manner that he knew these specific people would understand and relate to. Christian love is very unique!  And he says he longs for them.  That gives me the impression that he did not just miss them and think about them, but that his heart thought about them all the time and felt incomplete without them.  To say "longed for" gives the ideal of a very deep, aching desire.  He calls them his joy and his crown.  Think back to the beginning of this church.  Paul must have told everyone how this church was begun with a prison sentence (a horrible negative picture) but had become an entire church serving God (a wonderful spiritual picture).  Like the feeling a new mother gets when she is telling the story about how awful her labor was and then shows off her beautiful new baby.  It is a very deep emotion.  "His crown" refers to the church as his greatest accomplishment.  We know Paul did not have pride in a sinful way, but he has this one very clear example of how ugly and miserable things were and then a "look at them now" sort of illustration!

"Stand fast" is a military term.  Picture the old hand-to-hand combat of early times.  I imagine a  row of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder with their armor all polished and their shield held tightly together in an impenetrable wall of defense.  They are strong.  They are ready.  They are united.  They are undefeatable!  Knowing that we are soldiers in the Lord's army should give us security!  It should give us confidence to move forward and fight with all our might because we KNOW we will be triumphant.  This is the difference between a little band of rag-tag farmers with pitchforks and hammers coming out to do battle compared to the well organized and well trained forces stepping up to the battle lines in their shining coats of armour and all of their various weapons at the ready to slaughter the enemy.  In my mental picture, the army KNOWS it is going to overcome the band of farmers and fights with reckless abandon and confidence.  The unprepared farmers are fighting with all their might but in desperation.

We are like that polished army.  They enemy knows we have many different kinds of weapons at our disposal. He comes at us from every different angle and yet, no matter what he tries, we just pull out another sword or another axe and drive right across the battlefield.

In the movies you see the little group of fighting farmers trying to muster up their courage and then move forward in a defensive position.  But the mighty army has all confidence in themselves and in their brothers, so they are able to stride forward in the attack and hack their way to victory.  While they both have the same goal in mind, the well-trained, well-equipped, well-organized army most likely to succeed!

Having our minds completely set in God will give us the confidence we need to face the battles of this world.  Sometimes it is just one vicious attack after another all day long from the Enemy.  Other days I get exhausted from straining to be ready for his sneaky attacks.  But either way, I can be confident that I will be standing with the Overcomer when it is over.  Fight non, my dear ones, fight on!