LOVE REQUIRES INSIGHT: Let’s talk about PHILIPPIANS 1:9-10 NIV
© Photo Credit: @leafarpe
Good afternoon my beautiful people! I hope you had a good day and that you did something fun and whatnot because I didn’t. Wahhh, haha. Anyway I have a feeling this evening will be much better since we’re going to be discussing about Philippians 1:9-10. It’s all about how we can learn to grow knowledge and insight so that we can learn how to love like Christ. The full scripture reads: 9.And this is my prayer; that you may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. 10. So that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Seems to make sense considering the fact that love does require knowledge and insight. So without further ado, let’s discuss how we can apply to this message.
The Root To Love (A short story)
In this paragraph, I’m going to tell you a short fictional story in order to bring up my point about the power of insight. So sit back and enjoy as I do my best to put my authorship on display. Here we go. Ahem.
On a warm chilly Saturday evening in Times Square, there’s a man standing on the busy sidewalk. His name is Jake and he appears to be angry and start yelling on his phone. As pedestrians walk by, they overhear his angry conversion. The thing is, we really don’t know why he’s angry or why he’s yelling at the top of his lungs in the middle of a big city. We would just assume he’s being callous and has no self control. We would want him to have composure even if he’s angry about something on his phone. The conversation seems to be complicated and no one wants to confront him about lowering his voice. Until one pedestrian named Mike walks up to him and said, “Dude, do you mind?!?” Jake didn’t like his tone of delivery one bit so he became combative with him. Now as people walk by, they are overhearing the heated argument between the two and feel the need to whisper under their breaths out of resentment. Then one woman named Gabby walked by. She walked in her high heels and started to trip on them by saying “Oh excuse me!”. Mind you, it was an accident, Jake and Mike were so rooted into hate for each other they gave Gabby a cold look. Now before she can even say sorry in full sentence, Mike called her a B word and started to clamor on her. She immediately regressed into this stale attitude that no one has seen coming. She started name calling him as well. Now more people in the streets are watching and overhearing the squabble, while they’re exchanging name callings and such. Then ironically, another person named Timothy got bumped by a pedestrian who was riding his bike full speed. ‘Now, why would you make up a story about someone who rides their bike in a very busy city Tachief? No one can ride a bike in Times Square.’ Well obviously you haven’t been to New York, I’ve seen plenty of them. Haha. Back to the story, Ahem. Timothy got bumped by the bicyclist and tripped on Gabby. As they both fell to the concrete, she kicked him in the guts and started to call him names. And Jake was still arguing with the Mike. Now Times Square isn’t too busy as a a lot of people stopped and stared, watching the physical fights between the guys and the girl. My whole point is, there are no insight, and no love. Just a one huge misunderstanding and none of them has the heart of CHRIST. Sure, there are Christians who gets angry at times, but a true Christian would never even try to be combative with someone who is obviously angry and stressed out. Instead they, they would do what verse Matthew 5:39 suggests and it says But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. None of the people arguing are inherently evil, they're all just having a bad day with each other and needs more insight. To have insight is to have love for one another, even to strangers who are name calling you and kicking you in the guts. Someone has to pray or at least have knowledge of the fact they’re vested into some kind of anger they couldn’t control. The entire crowd are watching and filming the incident to upload on social media for the world to see. It’s an embarrassment for everyone including the crowd because they’re not even praying. What if they’re praying in their mind Tachief?’ Good point. However, the fight is still going on and there is no one to mediate them. Until one girl calls the cops and they showed up to diffuse the tension. As the physical fight escalates, one of the cops shot Jake right in the back of his head, and killed him. Now the whole Times Square went ballistic and ran away from the scene. Some froze and rebuked the trigger-happy cop. All Jake was to trying to do was resolve a payment plan for the church he goes to and help feed a homeless church member. The reason why he was angry in the first place is because the guy Jake was talking to on the phone is a scam artist. Mike froze and stood in such horror on his face that he could not even speak. He took a step back and started to ran off hysterically. The cops were angry at the cop who shot and killed Jake; and had to call the ambulance as one them prayed for the entire situation. ‘Now why would someone have time to pray for a dreadful incident like this Tachief?’ Well because God had told them it was the right thing to do despite the fact Jake is dead and that he would be facing Him on Judgment Day. Jake couldn’t repent for all of his sins since his life was cut short by the unjust murder of the cop. That person from the crowd may be praying for Jake because she has the insight of knowing that he went through a hard struggle himself, despite helping the homeless church member. And she asks God to forgive Jake since it was too late for Jake to repent. Now, God the Supreme Judge hears her prayer so He decided to send the Jake to the Telestial Heaven (One of the three Degrees of Glory.) Telestial Heaven is the lowest degree of of glory in God’s kingdom. At least he didn’t go to hell since he was a man of God, who happened to have a very bad day. Now I cannot, I repeat, I cannot tell you what God Himself would do with Jake in REAL LIFE, but I do know God would love Jake to have more insight about the whole Times Square situation. He would want Jake to have more knowledge and understanding about Mike and vice versa. So with Gabby. So with Timothy. I quoted this scripture earlier and I quote again, But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also-Matthew 5:39.
It’s challenging for most of us to turn the other cheek around because we have no prayer, no insight, and no knowledge of love in our hearts. If someone tries to kill you, fine let resist evil. But if a person pushes you and call you names, turn the other cheek so that the situation won’t turn into Times Square. Let’s start praying for each other and loving each other today. Amen.
Now the question is, do you have insight? Are you ready to acquire knowledge about love? PS: How’s my story? Should I write a book or not? LOL…
Feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, or questions below,
Peace and Love
© Photo Credit: Leafar Perez/ @leafarpe
