¹⁷ Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. ¹⁸ For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. ²¹ He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Philippians 3:17-21

Dear God, it’s scary how much we can deceive ourselves. I look at this passage, and I see Paul referring to his own frustration with people refusing to love you and follow the teachings of Jesus. He is so passionate about it that he has tears in his eyes. I think I’m more numb to it than that. I don’t get tears in my eyes when I think about the people who frustrate me because they have made themselves your enemy. Whose god is their appetite. Who brag about shameful things. Who think only about this life here on earth. I’m angry about them–especially when they are in leadership or claim to be your followers. But I’m not driven to tears over them.

But there are some people I really care about. I really care about the men in the Christian Men’s Life Skills class I’m helping teach. They are seeking. Some of them are closer to you than others. I care about the people I work with who are good people but who aren’t quite ready to turn their hearts and lives over to you. They are lost in the fog of their lives. So I do care. But I’m not nearly at Paul’s level, and it feels like I really should be. But, at the same time, maybe you’ve just put different calls on our lives. Maybe my life is supposed to knock over a domino in the life of one man in the group who becomes a Paul-type person. Or maybe you’ve given me one word for one man who will then use that new information or thought to be the father he needs to be for the next Paul-type person. My point is, maybe I’m being a little hard on myself. Maybe I should just do my best to listen to you today and love others in my path as well as I can, representing you and calling them to you.

Father, I have a busy 40 or so hours ahead of me. Help me to do it well. Help me to accomplish what you need me to accomplish. Help me to worship you how you’ve called me to worship you. to quote the casting crowns song, “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.” And to quote the Brandon Heath song, “Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing. Give me your love for humanity. Give me your arms for the brokenhearted. The ones that are far beyond my reach. Give me your love for the ones forgotten. Give me your eyes so I can see.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen