philippians & praise...

I started reading Philippians tonight and I have some cool things to share. But first I wanted to give some praise to the Lord for what He's done:

- a new car that won't break down
- finishing schoolwork slowly but surely
- making it to graduation, yay!
- time spent with my roommates
- the comfort of Scripture
- not knowing what I'm doing after graduation (trying to wait on Him!)
- having a dad that I can depend on to take care of me

Okay, on to Philippians. My boy Paul has some great points when it comes to conducting ourselves in the name of the gospel and all that, plus he has enlightened me on the bad things that go wrong in life. Check it out (1:19-21):

"What has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

^ Put into the context of my own life, Paul is stating that anything that happens to me will be my deliverance in the end if I wait on Jesus. I can think of plenty of bad things off the top of my head that have happened this semester alone, and I have been delivered from all of them. And it's really easy for shame to creep up on us after we do the wrong thing (or don't like to admit we're wrong), but Christ can deliver us from that as well so we can use it for His glory.

2:1-4-

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with 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 purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

^ I went down the list that Paul makes in the beginning and I was like, "Yes, I have that... yes, I am comforted, yes, I feel compassion..." so that means I have to do what? Yeah. Love like Jesus. Easier said than done, right? The love that came from Jesus when He was on earth is very different than the love we express today. I think that even our highest point of love or what we imagine to be the deepest is still incomparable to Jesus' love. That's a hard task to take on. Not to mention it's a daily struggle to avoid selfishness and put everyone else above us. The Bible sets some hard rules to follow and maybe that's why so many turn away from it, because it's "too hard." Or maybe we're just weak human beings that need the Lord more than ever to be our strength. The thing is, people as individuals have to make the choice to follow Him.

Anyway. Two weeks of school left... anyone else freaking out? Maybe it's just because I'm going to be a graduate! (So scary. Really.)