Your Lens for Seeing Life
Like the lens of our eyes (or eyeglasses), we all carry around internal thoughts, feelings, and ideas composing core beliefs that filter our everyday experiences and help us make sense of life. As the Apostle Paul writes a “thank-you” note to the church at Philippi that overflows with joy, he begins by providing insight into his core principles that help him understand life. What type of lens do you use to interpret life? Let’s take our first step to finding joy together by looking at life through the lens of Philippians 1:1-14.
Read through Philippians chapter 1 (in a couple English translations if possible for you). How would you describe what seems most important to the author (the Apostle Paul) from this passage?
Is it ever challenging for you to maintain confidence that God is working in your life, that his work really is good, and that he will complete that work?
What might make it difficult to hold onto that confidence?
What difference does it make to live with the confidence that God will complete his good work with you?
How could you develop confidence in God’s good work that includes you?
How might God be inviting you to be part of what he is doing right now?
As you begin reading the book of Philippians this week, what is God teaching you? Are there any action points where God is leading you through this book?
Learning Contentment
Contentment is one of those difficult to define qualities that’s even more challenging to put into practice and actually experience. Growing in this quality is a continual process that can’t be rushed. Whether you are very aware of your discontent or feel mostly...
Stand
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Eyes on the Prize
It’s not uncommon to find people who begin to pursue Christ with unbridled enthusiasm only to see them falter when life gets hard. A believer who pursues Christ must do so with a Spirit-empowered perspective. Paul had a deep desire to know Jesus more and more. And he...
Finding Your Confidence
So many factors conspire against our living in a way that pleases God. We not only deal with our inner struggles, but we must also face people who sound well-intentioned but oppose the ways of God. We can unwittingly embrace a conspiracy of confidence in our...
Connecting and Reconnecting Others
As followers of Jesus we are able to share with one another the rewards and joys of our faith as well as its demands and sorrows. In doing so, we come to experience the love and comfort of belonging to a community of believers that is as concerned for us as we are for...
Our Work and God’s Work
Christian growth is complex but simple. God does His part, we do ours. Put another way, God invites us into a cooperative work with Him. And part of that process involves how we treat each other. It really does matter. Our attitude toward each other often speaks...
Really Living
Have you ever had a moment when you thought, “Now, I’m really living!”? Maybe that feeling came with a thrilling moment, significant achievement, or meaningful experience. All of us want to experience that good life, but those feelings of “really living” seem to fade...
A Clear Perspective In Unclear Circumstances
Experiencing hardships is a normal part of life that can cause us to focus on negative feelings and anxiously anticipate negative outcomes. Being courageous followers of Jesus Christ doesn’t exempt us from these experiences and may, in fact, be the cause of them and...