Philippians 3:13

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I focus at times on what Paul went through in his calling. We all know the story, the hardships, the house arrest, the prison time, even his death. It seems like he accepted that with a grace that took an enormous amount of faith.

We are not by any means another Paul. To quote a line from Game of Thrones, “We will never see his like again.” The opening verse uses the term straining forward because we will find that when we are doing Kingdom work the enemy will provide the resistance. Satan opposes every good thing in God’s plan for us and if we do not feel at least some resistance in doing God’s will, then we might want to do a self-check.

Some time ago I observed what could be considered pew potatoes. It is a term I heard about some people who come to hear the message and do nothing more within the church to serve in any capacity. That is judgmental because we have not made them a sufficient part of our lives to see what they do for God outside the building.

We come with a check engine light. It is called a conscience. We had one before we came to Christ and we have one after coming to Christ. It may have been what caused us to surrender to Christ in the first place.

Psalm 37:37

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

Please note that it is the end of man is peace but this does not denote the struggle it took to get there. I cannot speak to every situation. Each of us has their own struggle and my only advice in this arena of conscience is to seek peace rather than comfort.

A dear friend had written some time ago about being a tool for God. Some of us are like rasp files needed to knock of sharp edges off a stone. Then later another that is fine sandpaper will come along to polish that stone into a jewel.

I always related to the iron sharpens iron verse where sometimes I am the hammer and sometimes I am the anvil. I never see myself as the sword.

How do we see others? How do we see ourselves?

1 Corinthians 15:27

For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

A-1

Verb

Strong’s Number: g5293

Greek: hupotasso

Subject, Subjection (Verb, Adjective, Noun):

primarily a military term, “to rank under”

The primary difference between submission and subjection is determined by who is giving the orders at that particular moment. God is the God of order and this issue of subjection is one of accepting that we are subject to one another by the authority given by our High Commander.

The nature of man is to seek promotion. In Kingdom living we cannot self-promote, our rank is determined by faithfulness in service.

As we grow in Christ we may discover that there are differences in administrations which have a structure different from other sects. I am reluctant in calling them religions because in theory we are all part of the universal church with one founder, Christ Himself.

Some of us find certain structures to be more comfortable than others. Humans will often gravitate to an environment which meets their personal needs. What those things are varies within each individual and while similar we are not all the same. When we allow personal comfort to dictate where we worship it is possible that we might be avoiding some of the very things that bring about promotion. Every muscle must be fed and exercised properly to become strong and useful.

Are you growing in faith where you are? Are you being fed properly? Are you subject to one another? Has the Lord called you to this place with purpose?

Or are you only seeking to feel comfortable?