by Pastor Rich Carlson

Paul, while imprisoned in Rome, wrote to the believers in Philippi. Philippi was a place he visited at least three times during his missionary journeys. This was the area he went to in response to the call to Macedonia (Acts 16:9-10). Living in the northeastern part of Greece, in an area then called Macedonia, the Philippian believers had been helpful and generous to Paul and the gospel. However, the church in Philippi was a small-town congregation with a problem.

Two women in the church, Euodia and Syntyche, had a falling out (4:2). Personality conflicts that developed into personal animosity were splitting the church. Paul’s solution was for them to have love for each other in humility (Acts 2:3). Paul used Christ, who put the interests of other first at great personal cost, as his example (2:5-8).

The sisters in Christ needed to sacrifice selfish feelings for interpersonal solutions, especially in light of the fact that their unbelieving neighbors were watching their behavior. This was not a command from Paul but an appeal from Christ. In much of this letter, Paul described and defended the value of loving each other as the only solution to repairing fractured relationships.

He first presented the acknowledgment, the process, and then the promise:

The acknowledgment: I can’t but God can. "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (1:6).

The process: Focus on love. "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (1:9)"

The promise comes in verses 10-11: "…so that you may be":
• "able to discern what is best" (1:10).
• "pure and blameless until the day of Christ" (1:10).
• "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God" (1:11).

God will remain faithful to me. I want to focus on understanding the depth of His love (instead of the superficial expressions of secular love), so that God can finish what He started in me.

He gives me the assurance of His continued presence and leading. He explains the process. And His promises are far greater than I could ever imagine.

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. “God Is Faithful” is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.