The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Philippians 2:12-15, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now

much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing;

15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a

crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world…”

It just might be provable, if we could get the majority of adults to admit it, but my guess is that we all obeyed our parents mostly when they were looking. Paul alludes to that when he says “…you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only…” Philippians is an epistle (letter) of joy! So, Paul is not playing games with the believers. He is simply encouraging them to let their salvation in Christ be fully accomplished. One commentator notes that the word “work” (????????????, katergazomai) “always has the idea of bringing to completion. It is as if Paul were saying: ‘Don’t stop halfway; go on until the work of salvation is fully revealed in you.’

No Christian should be satisfied with anything less than the total benefits of the gospel.” The “fear and trembling” of which Paul speaks is the Christian’s fear that he might be overlooking something that should be within him and yet clearly visible to others.

If as a believer, we can be fully Christian and neither grumble nor dispute with others, we will be demonstrating the purity of the Gospel. At the same time, we will be proving to others in a practical manner that we are truly children of

God “above reproach” (??????, amomos, i.e., without blemish. To be sure, we live in a perverse (?????????, diastrepho) crooked generation. Yet, as we obey the Holy Spirit’s direction within us, we will appear to the lost around us as “lights” in our ever darkening world.

Are we lights for Christ? Is our salvation being worked out within us? Do others see that we are different, that our beauty is internal, not external, like the world’s? Where else is the world to see Light, unless it sees it in Christ and reflected in us? Stay in the Word! Engage in serious prayer! Be conscious of how you live and whether it is a reflection of our LORD Jesus Christ. God bless you abundantly! You are in my prayers. Please keep me in yours.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”