Joyful Ruins

As I read Philippians 1:27-30 over and over again this week, I did not see anything new.

However, after the 5th time I read it, “striving together” jumped out at me. Within the context, Paul is confident that the Philippians will “strive together as one for the faith of the gospel”.

Striving together is right! Whether you are in a bible study, a ministry, a Sunday school, or a church body, there is nothing easy about being “one”.

The definition of striving means to “exert much effort or energy; to struggle or fight.” What a word to choose! Paul did not say “succeed together”, “work together”, or “fellowship together”.

Because we are all sinners, there will always be conflicts, drama, obstacles in our Christian community. Someone may constantly hurt your feelings, disagree with you, maybe, not even like you.

That’s why we must strive. It takes effort, energy, to be one for Christ.

We are truly fighting as the world, sin, Satan, wants believers to quarrel amongst themselves and never get anything done. We are fighting against darkness.

Striving is active. We don’t just go along for the ride. We must choose to put up a fight to stay one, for “the faith of the gospel”. And, we have the Spirit of Christ living in us to give us strength to do so!