Devotions based on week 7 of Joy in the Journey: Grace (WATCH HERE)
Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
Repetition is the mother of learning.
However, sometimes it can be frustrating to have to repeat things.
Ask a teacher trying to make a point to a class not paying attention.
Ask a parent trying to get a child to clean up their room.
Ask a spouse trying to converse with their partner locked in on their phone scrolling.
Many times we have to repeat ourselves because the listeners aren’t paying attention. But in this case, Paul has an important point he wants to say again. “It’s no trouble for me to write the same things to you again…”
Repetition isn’t just the mother of learning, it is the reality when a point is important.
Listen to any public speaker and if he or she wants to drive home a point, it is repeated, emphasized and repeated again. In fact, usually the main point of the talk is repeated multiple times.
Why?
Because the knowledge is worth not only remembering, but embodying for future benefit.
The first two chapters of Philippians focus on the Gospel partnership and focus Paul shared with the Philippians. He points them back to the humble service of Christ and the humble servants that brought Christ to them.
But chapter three connects the reader to the crux of the Christian faith: grace. (More on this as the week progresses).
There is nothing more wonderful that preaching, writing, and sharing grace.
As a pastor, it is wonderful to not just tell people to “Rejoice in the Lord” but to continue to remind them of the love, mercy and grace of God. There is no greater message in the world than the heart of biblical Christianity, grace.
And it bears repeating, and repeating and repeating again.
“…it is a safeguard for you.”
If you want to rely on a message shared with you, you want to have certainty that you are remembering the message correctly. This happens when the speaker repeats himself until the listener can repeat the truth, the main point without hesitation. Hearing something repeated reinforces the importance of it so there is no doubt in your mind that you are understand and believing the correct thing.
What follows in Philippians 3 communicates not just the heart of Paul, but the heart of God. There is no other message from the Lord that is more important than the message of grace. He begins it in Genesis and generation after generation communicates it to his people. Philippians 3 is no different.
And God’s Spirit has preserved these words for us to hear today.
It’s like God saying to you, “It’s no trouble for me to write these things to you again, as a safeguard to you.”
He wants you safe in grace…as long as and as many times as he has to repeat it!
Apply: Do you sometimes tune out to grace because it is a familiar teaching? Take time today to read Philippians 3. Capture the essence of God’s grace to you once again.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being willing to repeat and repeat again the message of grace so we can find certainty and safety in its teaching. AMEN.