Philippians

By John Blase | February 1, 2015 |
Me imprisoned, Epaphroditus restored, you holding fast, Timothy headed your way –
in all this I find myself filled with such a deep satisfaction that I thank God.
Live like Jesus. Take care of each other. Endure both the terrible and the beautiful.
One way or another everything will resolve in Christ Jesus. Everything.
 
 
*The book of Philippians has four chapters. I wondered if the essence of the letter could be captured in four lines, and here is my attempt.
 
 

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19 Comments

  1. mom2twoboys on February 1, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    Once upon a time I was teaching a Bible class in a Christian school to a class of mostly non-Christians. One quarter we studied the book of John. I asked for a creative project at the end of class that they came up with (a song, poem, drawing, etc). One of my students wrote a haiku for each chapter of John. I kept it because I loved it so much. I love this poem, also. Thank-you!

    Michelle Candy

    Reply
    • thebeautifuldue on February 4, 2015 at 2:09 am

      Thank you, Michelle. I love the way you challenged them, sounds like they rose to the occasion.

      Reply
  2. thewarwithsarx on February 1, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    Philippians is probably my favorite. The hymn that starts at 2:6 is so incredibly beautiful. He made himself nothing, emptied himself, or in the best version “made himself of no reputation.” Paul invites us to live this way. I think “live like Jesus” and “take care of each other” capture Paul’s heart wonderfully.

    Reply
    • thebeautifuldue on February 4, 2015 at 2:10 am

      It is a beautiful letter, probably my fav too.

      Reply
  3. Ruth Brown on February 1, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    I love this! Thank you ☺️.

    Reply
    • thebeautifuldue on February 4, 2015 at 2:11 am

      Ruth, you are most welcome. Thanks for reading.

      Reply
  4. patriciaspreng on February 1, 2015 at 4:49 pm

    How wonderful. I used to do an exercise in Bible Study Fellowship… 10 words for each chapter. I like yours better. = ) What a beautiful way to drink in God’s word. I hope you do this for the other 65 books…

    Reply
    • thebeautifuldue on February 4, 2015 at 2:12 am

      Patricia, I’m just starting with the NT for now, don’t want to scare myself off:)

      Reply
  5. Michele Morin on February 1, 2015 at 6:36 pm

    Beautiful. Especially the last word. I needed to hear it twice.

    Reply
  6. pastordt on February 2, 2015 at 1:29 am

    Yeah, listen to Pat up there. 🙂 Thanks, John.

    Reply
  7. jodyo70 on February 2, 2015 at 4:59 am

    John, that is a remarkable distillation…. I’m intrigued and challenged.
    Kind of like the Apostle Paul’s elevator speech.

    Reply
    • thebeautifuldue on February 4, 2015 at 2:14 am

      Thank you, Jody. It was definitely a challenge.

      Reply
  8. Susan Irene Fox on February 2, 2015 at 6:09 pm

    Succinct and lovely, John. Ah, if Paul wrote this way, Pastors would be left with nothing to say. (Might be a good thing. 😉 )

    Reply
  9. Chris Lovie-Tyler on February 3, 2015 at 11:42 am

    I haven’t read Philippians recently, so I can’t say whether you’ve nailed the summary, but I do love what you’ve written! Thank you.

    Reply
  10. R W on February 4, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    This might be one of my favorite things you’ve ever written. And considering I have a giant word document full of my favorite things by so that I can find them more easily, that’s saying something. The last two lines….

    Reply

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