Completed Joy!

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." Philippians 2:1-2 NASB

In the last post, we worked with the emotions expressed in the first verse. The second verse begins with "make my joy complete." It may seem strange that Paul's completed joy would rest with their living in harmony, but that is what a pastor/teacher feels when the ones under their care and training are living from the inside out according to the teachings and example.  So he "underlines" this to them by giving  a few other instructions about this marvelous together life.

That is what the Christian life is all about - a life together. As we walk together in our fellowships our attitudes determine how that gets lived out in us and in others. In this passage the words used in the Greek text are difficult of translate because in that language what was felt in the body was explained in words that included those feelings within the thinking. For us in the west, our tendency is to think our emotions are one thing and our thinking is separate. That is simply not so. We are a unit and it all works together. The mind is working in harmony with the rest of the body and what is felt is in harmony with the thinking. So let's unpack this verse a bit.

The Spirit through Paul wants these dear ones to live in harmony by "being of the same mind." This could be translated "being united in soul, sharing the same identity in Christ - so mutually supporting what God reveals through faith which is His in-worked persuasion. They are to, in faith ( God's in-worked persuasion), be deeply devoted to one another in the love of Jesus as they are purposely united in spirit. As they maintain this attitude of love, they will experience an outward action of unity as their personal opinions are fleshed out into appropriate together life.

This is not the end of the thought at all. The next 16 verses are about this heart experience. So there will be much to enforce these understandings as we go through the text.

Our Lord is a God who works from the inside out. He is not interested in an outward action that does not have an inward reality. So often, in our Christian lives, we are content to do the right thing without the emotions being in agreement and a part of that action. As we wait before Him, let us expect this inward God of ours to begin to adjust our hearts and minds into the one unit they truly are in the new creation. It is a part of our coming into true wholeness. Awesome! It is His work!