Reading Plan:
Philippians 1


Our Thoughts:
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have” Philippians 1:29-30.

Wow. This is a powerful word that Paul writes at the very front of his letter to the people of Philippi. Not gonna lie, if this had been a letter to me, I probably would have put it down right then and there. But if we can dig a little bit deeper and not be scared off, I believe we can find one of the most profound things about the Good News of Jesus that Paul has ever written.

The gospel comes to us in two massive movements: believing and becoming.

1) We believe in Jesus.
2) We become like Jesus.

Christ suffered on our behalf, and He grants to us the gift of suffering on his behalf. We must learn, though, what Jesus means by suffering. It is quite simple. Suffering, in the vision of the gospel, means sacrificial love.

The first half of the Gospel flows from a verse that we all know, or at the very least, have heard. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The second half of the Gospel, interestingly, issues from 1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

We see these two movements powerfully summarized in today’s text from the first chapter of Philippians: For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him.

The path between believing and becoming is called the way of the Cross. It brings us to another word beginning with the letter b: belonging. The way of the cross is the way of belonging to Jesus. To belong to Jesus means to become identified with Him. It means ceasing to belong to the world and its pattern (check out Romans 12 on this subject, it’s one of my favorites). To belong to Jesus is the pathway to becoming like Him. “Christ in you,” is the way Paul captures it (Col. 1:27). Suffering for Him should not strike us with fear. The world has trained us to fear this word. Jesus shows us there is actually no better place on earth.

Buckle your Bible belts, fam. This is where we are headed. As we step into the rest of our week together, let this be your daily, every-minute-of-every-day prayer: “Jesus, I belong to you.”

I want us to say it over and over and over until we find ourselves praying it even when we aren’t thinking about it.

Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You. Jesus, I belong to You.

Say a word of it with each step.

Believing and becoming. This is the way of belonging.


More Questions:
• What are your thoughts on the “two halves of the Gospel:” believing and becoming?
• Why does the word suffering bring so much fear into our hearts?
• Are you ready to fully belong to Jesus? What does that mean about how you are to live your life in both believing and becoming?


Prayer:
Jesus, I belong to You.


Author: Blake Houston