“Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed!
Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.
Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.
Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.
You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.”
Philippians 2:14-16 MSG
“Everything” means, well, everything. It includes all. Excludes none. Strong word.
So, when the Apostle Paul tells us to do EVERYTHING readily and cheerfully…that includes the stuff we don’t like to do…and excludes nothing.
Hmmmmm. That brings me to conviction. I can do most things without delay and with a good attitude. But can I do EVERYTHING without complaining and rationalizing? I’m commanded to. It’s not a suggestion.
You know why? Paul tells us, “so that you will be a breath of fresh air and provide a glimpse of good living and the living God”.
That should be reason enough. If I act like Jesus…and do the next right thing without making it all about me by throwing a pity party….then I am “abnormal” in this “squalid and polluted society” and others can see the living God in me. Woo Hoo!
I am to “go out into this world uncorrupted”. That means I am in this world but not of it. I am of God’s Kingdom and I’m playing an away game here on earth. I know where my goal post lies. So act like it. Be the fresh air amongst the stench so others will catch a waft of Him to inhale.
Not only are we fresh air, but we also shine because we have the light-giving Message in us. And the darker it gets, the brighter we shine. Just like a blacker-than-black night sky with the canopy of stars bursting forth against the backdrop. Bright. Easy to see with the naked eye.
So, are you up for the Good Living challenge? We…the breath of fresh air in this corrupted world…and the light-giving Message that shows up big time in the night…are LIVING PROOF of the LIVING GOD!!
How purposeful. To be a fresh aroma of Christ. And to light the path to Him.
