Year 5, Day 185: Philippians 3

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Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

When I think about Paul, I naturally think of a man who has great character.  This chapter in Philippians really illustrates Paul’s character.  You have to be a person of godly character to give up all that he had going for him for some undetermined fate.  Don’t get me wrong.  Paul had his faults.  Paul was no perfect man.  But a person doesn’t sacrifice all that they have and completely reorient their life to a new perspective on God without having a strong godly character within.

Look within this passage of all that he had going for him in this life.  He was a Pharisee – and a well respected one at that.  He had been obedient to the law since his birth and circumcision.  He had the approval of the religious leaders as he persecuted the church.  He had the growing respect of the Jewish leadership around him.  Yet because of a single encounter with Jesus Christ, his life changed and he gave all of that away.  He realized that it is better to have the approval of God and follow in the example of His Son than to have all that he had according to human standards.

However, what I believe is most telling of his character is what he asserts after speaking about what he gave up.  The first thing that he asserts is that it was for the sake of Christ.  He wasn’t looking out for his own reputation or his own glory.  All that he did was for the sake of Christ.  The second thing that he asserts is an exhortation for the Philippian people to join him in imitating Christ.  He encourages them to look around themselves and see who is walking according to the ways of Christ and then follow them. 

At the heart of Paul’s of Paul’s character is a two-fold perspective.  This should familiar.  Paul first focus is on God.  Paul’s second focus is on the people around him to whom God has called him.  That should sound a little bit like Jesus when he says that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor.  At the heart of Paul’s character is a removal of self so that he can focus on God and those to whom God calls him.  That’s a godly character.

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