Thoughts on Philippians 1

Today’s reading: Exodus 35; Philippians 1

I find myself regularly surprised by Paul’s prayers for the churches and people he writes to. No matter how many times I’ve read them, and no matter how many times I’ve stopped and been struck by them, I am struck by them again every time because I still don’t pray for people like Paul does.

Look at Paul’s prayer for the Philippians:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is best, that you might be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

My prayers tend to be much more practical, asking God to intervene in specific circumstances, to grant wisdom and insight into a situation, to provide needed resources for something, etc. Now, there is nothing wrong with practical prayers, and we see examples of this type of prayer even from Jesus Himself, but what is compelling to me every time I read a passage like this is that the practical is not Paul’s focus in his prayers for people like it is mine.

For Paul, all of the Christian life and experience goes back to being more deeply rooted in the love of Christ. And when I say, “For Paul,” I don’t mean to say he has a different view than the other biblical authors, but to say that he keeps his eyes on the target, and I so often let my eyes wander to less important things.

And it’s also worth noting that this isn’t the kind of teaching you hear increasingly these days, especially in more progressive church settings, that love is the only thing that matters, and questions of sin and morality aren’t even really on the table. Who is more practical in his writings on what the Christian life should look like than Paul? Who is more bold in addressing sin in the New Testament than Paul? Multiple times in his letters he calls for people to be removed from the church for their unrepentant sin. He clearly doesn’t take the practical outworking of faith lightly.

Paul’s focus in his prayers on growing in love is not divorced from the practical outworking of the faith, but is instead the root of the practical outworking of the faith. And this is the point that I so often get backward, in my own life, and in the lives of those around me.

Where I see a behavioral issue or a sin pattern, Paul sees a lack of understanding of the great love God has for us, but I have to give it to him here, Paul’s right. When and where I have seen the greatest growth in my character and in my pursuit of the Lord, it has not been when I have gritted my teeth and just pushed through until I developed a new habit or routine to replace what is sinful or otherwise less good, but has been when/where I have become more deeply convinced of the love of God. Certainly there are times when a very practical stepping away from sin is important, or even necessary, to enable us to see things more clearly and to recognize the love of God more fully, but changing a habit is different from changing your heart, and without heart change, there is no real hope that the habit will maintain.

I think I need more of this in my prayer life. I need, more often, for the practical things I want to pray for to point me back to the need for an increased love for God and experience of His presence, and let that shape my prayers for myself and others.