Philippians 2:14-16a (TNIV)

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, 'children of God in a warped and crooked generation.' Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life."

Philippians 3:18-21 (TNIV)

"For as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body."

I won't write a lot right now. But I chose these verses because I feel they contain the main themes of the chapter or half-chapter they come from. I also think they are important to remember and keep in my heart because they remind me of who I should be in Christ and what my relation to the world should be.

1) Philippians 2:14-16a shows me what can ruin my witness to Christ: simply this, grumbling and arguing. I complain and I often will argue with my youngest sister and others, but this is not something that God wants us to do. It's funny because Paul takes this from Deuteronomy, waaaay back right before Moses died and Joshua took over leading the Israelites. God had told Moses he would die and that after he did, the Israelites would turn right around and start worshipping idols again and turn away from God. The phrase "children of God in a warped and crooked generation" comes from a song that Moses gave the Israelites to pass on through the generations. It was a prophetic song telling them of their impending unfaithfulness. But it was also a song of remembrance so neither they nor their descendants would forget how they turned against God. Moses called the Israelites "not His children" and "a warped and crooked generation". This seems to me that they became the lowest of the low in God's eyes. They continually refused to follow Him so he rejected them. He said: " I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding." (which refers to Gentiles, those who were not God's chosen people and had no knowledge of or followed the Law set down for the Israelites by God). God's chosen people were the warped and crooked generation. What a blow to their egos! Paul basically tells us not to be like the Israelites. They were consantly complaining and arguing with each other and with God about what they thought should be happening and how He never provided for them, blah, blah, blah, ect. These people were not following God; they were worshipping idols and totally rejected the One who had saved them and given them this amazing Promised Land. So this says to me that I need to continue to remain faithful to my God, to be an example of someone that follows God in trust and faith. I should not be modeling the vogue of the world who have rejected God, but stand apart. When I follow God I should appear to be different, like a pinpoint of light in a void of dark, in the darkeness but seperate and distinct from the dark. Stars are also guides and can be used to direct people, so I should be pointing the way to Truth and back to God.

(sorry, I thought I wasn't going to write a lot.)

I'll comment more on Philippians 3:18-21 later. But I guess the first part kind of provides a view of what the world looks like and how sad it is. They choose to satisfy themselves with temporal things and focus on themselves. It's all about me, me, me. Let me have fun by prostituting myself to my desires. Believers in Christ should be the opposite of this. It kind of ties in with Philip 2:14-16a where it says we should be like beacons in a sea of darkness. We should not be connected to or allied to "worldy" things that only focus on the here and now or how I can get what I want so I'll be happy. We should ally ourselves and be committed to the things of heaven and of God which include following Him (loving God and others--focus away from self) and worshipping Him, etc.

It also gives us a picture of the hope that awaits us. Our God will one day take all this chaos that is the world and make it orderly. It will make sense and be perfect like it was meant to be. Our physical bodies will also become pefect, not deformed, disfigured, in pain, disproportionate, awkward, etc. They will be like God's, in whose image we were made. Without defect or blemish. What a wonderful image!

How do you think of citizenship, and especially "citizenship in heaven"? What does that entail for you?

What is holding you back from shining like a star? Are there little things you do (like arguing) that you think of as just normal but you know should not be part of your life?