It's hard to believe, but today marks the one year anniversary of Coach's Corner. I want to thank all of you who are faithful readers. For many people, anniversaries are one of those times that you look back and reflect on what has taken place since the last anniversary. This can be a good thing. The only drawback I see is that when you get to be my age, you realize that you have more years to look back on than you have to look forward to.J Well at least in the temporal sense.
I do believe that for Christians, it is an important thing to evaluate what each year brings into your life. I tried to think back to the day that the idea of this blog came about. Why did I feel led to do such a thing? It is interesting to contemplate what my thoughts were and I can't really say that I had a definite idea of what my real motivation was. It took a while to discover what I really hoped to accomplish by this adventure. Not too long after I had begun posting, I realized what the goal was that the Lord had instilled in me. My heart's desire was and is, to be used by the Lord to encourage other believers to grow steadily in their relationship to Him. That is what this blog is really all about.
While doing an in depth study in the book of Phillipians, I came to the conclusion that the apostle Paul had this same hope for the believers in the church at Phillipi. It is summed up in these three verses: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God. Phi 1:9-11.
Paul brings out three important points in this prayer, contained in verse 9. Point one, is that their love might abound. You might ask, love for whom or what? The Greek word used for love here is once again, agape. It denotes love in a social or moral sense. I believe, if you keep it in context with the rest of the book, he is speaking of a love for the brethren. The type that puts others needs above your own. That kind of love is only possible when it is bestowed upon you by God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Note that Paul says to abound in this love. This word is perisseuo in Greek and it means to "keep on flowing, like a flood."It means, continually and forcefully!
The second point is that this love has to have knowledge attached to it. The word for knowledge comes from the root word, epiginosko. It literally means, "become fully acquainted with" or to "recognize." He wants these believers to become fully acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul concludes by giving them a reason to be knowledgeable. This knowledge will give them the ability to discern what is best. The NKJV says it more literally, "to approve the things that are excellent." How important it is in our Christian life to know the things that are excellent, the things that are best.
Paul then goes on to say that this will lead to a pure (meaning tested as genuine) and blameless (because of our relationship with Christ) life. It brings a life filled with the fruit of righteousness (right actions), which comes by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer. This is what our life should be like, as we wait for the day that the Lord returns. The end result is an awesome life for us and as Paul says in verse 11, it brings glory and praise to God! What could be better than that?
So, there you have it. Now you know why I do this. I pray that Coach's Corner has and will continue to encourage you to … "live a life worthy of the calling you have received." (Eph 4:1, Col 1:10,1Th 2:12) In order to do that you must surrender your life, fully and completely to your redeemer, the lover of your soul, Jesus Christ. I pray that you have already done that, but if not, don't wait. Do it now. Learn what it is like to have the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God who created you, to be in control of your life. Just ask Him to come into your life and take full control. He promises in His word that He will do it. (Jn 6:37)
May God bless you and keep you,
Coach
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