My View

Came back from The Order of Mission Annual Gathering. Meeting TOM people always gives me a kick. People with a passion for Jesus, dedicated to His love and to each other, and with big hearts. Thank you, TOM members, I enjoy being family with you.

Mike Breen had a fantastic (”brilliant” for you brits) teaching series on Philippians. I don’t think my life will be the same after this. Some bits:

• “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21, NIV) – What can you say? Challenging words… And yet inspiring… Can I utter those words and mean them?

• “He [Christ] made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form” (Phil. 2:7, New Living Translation) – Jesus didn’t do all the stuff he did (miracles etc) through his divinity, he did it through his humility. He put himself in exactly the same position as us – in human form. He was dependent on the Father through the Spirit. So to follow Jesus, doing what he did (and even greater things) does not require divinity. It requires humility. Poor me.

• “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14, NIV) – In Phil. 3:3-11 Paul talks about all that he could boast of, but then chooses to “forget what is behind” and “strain toward what is ahead”. Am I stuck in all the stuff tying me back? Is my identity tied to my job? My money? My friends? My family? My education? Paul has left this behind, and can now say in chapter 4: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

So where am I? Am I willing to humble myself? Am I willing to give it up? Am I willing to count Christ as gain and all else as loss? Phew, got a lot to think about now. But I know I won’t be the same.

Thanks again to all you TOM people. It was great hanging out with you.