It is a beautiful, 70-degree morning. The birds are singing, a breeze is coming gently through the office window, a cup of tea sits beside me, and the cat is nearby.

I worked this morning on changing some colors and adding some categories to the site. Maybe later, I’ll add additional pages, but simple is good, so I’ll leave the blog site as it is for a while. As a free site, it doesn’t have advanced design options, and I’m okay with that. This is like revisiting an old friend, life from a simpler time.

Advertisements won’t show on what I look at on the site, but you may see some ads. I don’t have control over that, as this site is free. I’m not sure I can determine what is shown, but if I can, I’ll try to at least keep them clean.

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I get a verse of the day from three different places, and this is the verse from one site today:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 3:20 (ESV)

I love the idea of citizenship in heaven and the power in that. The promise that Jesus, our Savior, is coming to take us home. But as powerful as that is, one part of a verse can’t carry the impact of what Philippians teaches. So, I’m sharing the whole chapter and encourage you to read it, meditate on it, and remember that those words are God-breathed, given to the various writers of the Bible, and determine the course of our life as believers.

Take responsibility for yourself; don’t rely on the words of others you come across. Even if the words are like what I shared, one verse for the day. Those segments can be influential. But unless you take them in and dwell on them, they can slip away as the day crowds your thoughts.

And don’t rely on past experiences only. What happened years ago is just that, the past. As believers, we need new experiences with God. Constant connection with God is imperative. A community of believers you can interact with is part of God’s plan for your life. If you can’t be in church, examine the truth in why you are not attending. Is it you putting what pleases you above what pleases God? If your heart is one of obedience and desire to please God, and something is stopping your ability to do as the Bible instructs, ‘forsake not the assembling together,’ then take advantage of the churches you can stream or find on the television stations. But do the research and make sure they are Bible-believing and Bible-teaching churches. Assembling together can also be in-home churches when traditional churches are not available. Faith and all it means in your life is a choice. Take hold of that choice, embrace the faith life, live it, and relish living in the love of God.

And, if you’ve never made that commitment to Jesus, never accepted his gift of salvation, please consider it. Pray. Admit the sins you’ve committed and those you don’t know you’ve committed, repent, ask for forgiveness, receive by faith the salvation offered, and rejoice in your personal citizenship in Heaven!

And, remember, these blog posts continue to be reminders and encouragement for me as well; to do, to be, what pleases God.

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Philippians 3 (ESV)

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.  For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Straining Toward the Goal

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.  Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.