In all Saint Paul epistles, he writes with affection and the epistle breathes a note of joy throughout. Whether apostle Paul lives or dies, "Christ is preached"; and this results in salvation. Following these reflections, Paul introduces a series of exhortations: to remain faithful in suffering; to remain considerate of others as Jesus Christ was; and to avoid evil and live blamelessly.

The focus of Saint Paul thoughts is the Christ-centered life, the hallmark of which is joy. Paul has surrendered everything to Christ. Christ has laid hold of Paul and Paul's sole passion is to glorify Christ. He longs for his experiences of Christ to be repeated in the lives of everyone. He prays that they will abound in the love of Christ, will lay hold of the mind of Christ and like himself, will know the experience of Christ - His sufferings, death and resurrection.

Because Paul's only motive is to know Him, he shares in the power of Christ and can do all things through Christ, who is his joy and strength. He exhorts Christians to translate their relationship with Christ into daily life by being 'like minded' with Christ or 'setting their minds on Christ'. In the face of opposition, Saint Paul tells them to stand fast with one mind, striving together for the love and faith of the Gospel. He also exhorts the believers to set their mind on the high calling of God in Jesus Christ and to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtue and of good deeds. To have the mind of Christ is to see life from Christ's perspective and to act toward other people with the intentions of Christ.

Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come to you and see for myself or stay at a distance and only hear about you, I shall know that you are unanimous in meeting the attack with firm resistance, united by your love for the faith of the gospel and quite unshaken by your enemies. This would be the sure sign that they will lose and you will be saved. It would be a sign from God that he has given you the privilege not only of believing in Christ but of suffering for him as well. You and I are together in the same fight as you saw me fighting before and, as you will have heard, I am fighting still. - Phil. 1:27-30 -

This is the Christ whose attitude and intention all believers must share. To be identified with Christ in humility and obedience is the noblest achievement to which anyone can aspire. Saint Paul appealing to the believers to be of "one mind" in Christ and nowhere in the mind of Christ presented to the Christian more strongly that in Philippians 2:1-11 :

If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people's interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:

His state was divine,
yet he did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are;
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.

But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings
in heavens, on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. - Phil. 2:1-11 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -