Real Christian Faith

Mark Twain, famed author and humorist, wrote that few things are harder to put up with "than the annoyance of a good example." Perhaps the thing most annoying about a good example is our inability to accomplish the same achievements. Admiration for a great person can inspire us, but it can't enable us. Unless the person can somehow enter into our lives and share his skills, we cannot attain to his heights of accomplishment. It takes more than an example on the outside; it takes power on the inside.

Paul in the second chapter of Philippians presents Jesus Christ as our great example in the exercise of the submissive mind. We read it, and we agree with it, but how do we go about practicing it? Paul sets before us the divine pattern for the submissive mind and the divine power to accomplish what God has commanded. Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God which worketh in you". It is not by imitation, but by incarnation; "Christ lives in me"(Galatians 2:20). The Christian life may seem like a series of ups and downs, but it is more accurately a process of ins and outs. God works in, and we work out. We cultivate the submissive mind by responding to the divine provisions God makes available to us. This Sunday we will be looking at these provisions which allow us to be all that God wants us to be.