Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.
-Philippians 3:1, 2
The high call of God in Christ Jesus is to rejoice in the Lord, and to do so in any and all circumstances and regardless of what is going on around us. Having hard times? Rejoice in the Lord. Going through some trial? Rejoice in the Lord. Are you feeling run down, discouraged, and fearful? The answer is to rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice because we know in all certainty whose hands our lives are in. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow. The Lord is in control, and He is still on His throne.
We also have the warning against those who were trying to take away the spiritual freedom of the believers. These were the ones trying to take the believers back into the yoke of the law and all its practices and observances. They were going about teaching that to be a Christian one needed to not only trust Christ, but also observe the law – perfectly. This was causing terrible confusion within the body of Christ. The implications are staggering for the believer who would get drawn into such convoluted thinking. Such a person would be trying to live under grace and the law, and that is not possible. We are under one or the other. The follower of Jesus is indeed under grace. That is why Christ came; that we might have the fullness of God’s grace in us.
Paul the Apostle was a firm believer in the truth that Christ Jesus would indeed supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). And Paul furthermore knew that having Christ was everything – the most important part of our lives. When we come to this realization, then we are on our way to walking daily in spiritual power and victory.
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