“Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord … be of the same mind in the Lord.”

Philippians 4 v 1,2

Before you read the following have a read of, and meditate on, Philippians 4 v 1&2. Perhaps even take time to write out the verses.

As Paul begins to draw his letter to this beloved church to an end, he turns from the lofty truths of chapters 2 and 3, to much more practical matters. Christ has been at the centre of Paul’s thoughts in this letter: that it is God who works in us to make us like Christ; that to live Christ is gain, and to do this is to have a lowly mind like Christ’s, counting all else loss; that to know Christ is to have a present reality with a glorious future ‘fashioned like unto His glorious body’, with all subdued ‘unto Himself’ (3v21).

Having finished chapter 3 on such a note, it is no surprise that Paul opens chapter 4 by repeating the phrase ‘in the Lord’ twice. Scan through the letter again and note the times that Paul uses this expression. It is very instructive. The idea is that we are to place ourselves under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are in the Lord, we will have a lowly mind and a submissive heart, but we will also be anchored in our faith and united with one another. The first is the answer to the problem of compromise; the second the answer to the problem of conflict – both very real and practical issues we often face.

Just thinking now about the first of these, Paul speaks elsewhere of young Christians (‘children’ Eph 4:14) being ‘carried about with every wind of doctrine’. We live in a world today where the winds of cultural doctrines blow hard against us. It is therefore just as vital for us as it was for the Philippians to become mature ‘in the Lord’ so that we will be able to ‘stand fast’ against these pressures to compromise. Are there areas of life where you feel greater pressure to think like the world? If so, then we need to centre ourselves in the Lord again, and be strengthened through His Word.