Paul was very connected to the
communities to whom he wrote. He felt a
great sense of love, loyalty, and allegiance to them. He writes to them to encourage them and to
give them advice along their journey of faith.
He tells them today that they have been lights shining in the darkness
of a perverse generation. He asks them
to persevere through obedience even when it is so difficult to do so. It is hard being a light in the midst of so
much darkness when the ways of man are calling out so strongly to lead us
astray. In many ways, I can see Paul
writing this same sort of letter to us in our own modern world, since we are
face with some of the same circumstances.
Paul advises the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and
trembling. Fear in the Jewish mind meant
to have respect and awe for God, to let God be God, and for them to be the
dutiful servants and followers. So often
we want to become gods ourselves, don’t we?
We as human beings want to call the shots and don’t want to have to obey
the rules. This is the richness of
Sacred Scripture – it can be so true for us today. May we continue to follow the Lord in our
words and actions, to obedient to him as his followers.
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