Are You Growing, or Stagnant?

⁹ I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. ¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
-Philippians 1:9-11 (NLT)


Yesterday, we looked at how our love should be overflowing. Today, we'll break down verse 10. One of the goals of my life, and I hope yours as well, is to live pure and blameless. Can this be done in our world today? I think so. Let's break it down.


Verse 10 says, "For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless until the day of Christ's return." In the previous verse (9), Paul prayed that their love will overflow, and that they keep growing in knowledge and understanding. Growing is an outflow of love. If you've got a hobby, you continue investing time and money into that hobby because of your love for that hobby. The same principle can be applied to our Christian life. Not that our Christian life is a hobby, but if we truly love God, and truly love Jesus, then we will want to invest our time into growing in our knowledge and understanding of Him and His will for our lives. Then, verse 10 starts off with, "For I want you to understand what really matters." What does Paul mean by this statement? I believe it's a simple truth. If their knowledge of God is growing, as well as their understanding of God's will, they will be able to test and approve what really matters in life. Is it really important to have the biggest house on the block? Or, is it more important to follow the commands of God found in His Word? By growing in the knowledge of God, and have an understanding of the Will of God for our lives, we will be able to test and understand what really is, and is not, important in life. This results to fulfilling what the second part of verse 10 says. "so that you may live pure and blameless until the day of Christ's return." Once we grasp what really matters in life, we will be able to live the pure, blameless life that God desires, and we'll do it through Jesus. 


The question is this: Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus and in the understanding of the Will of God in your life? Or, are you stagnant and not growing at all. You can't live the life that God desires and expects if you're not growing. Think About It.