Phil 1:10 Thoughts

After my word study on this verse, I came away with this conclusion:  We are to be sincere (not hypocritical or deceptive) and blameless (being the kind of person that others want to be around, even when we differ in our beliefs) in our faith.

I think these are two things believers in the Western world struggle with and against.  Being sincere is so important in our culture today because of all the pseudo-Christians that are not.  Well known pseudo-Christians, as well.  I can't judge their souls; I don't know if they're true Christians or not.  But our country has a history of Christian leaders who ask for our money and then get put in jail for fraud.  To me, that is the epitome of insincerity.  And that's just one type.  What about the preachers who are only concerned about the pews being filled instead of the maturity of the ones already in the pews?  We could go further back, before America was born, to the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the practices of the church that started the Reformation.  The motives behind our evangelism have often been questioned by the world, for good reason.  So not only do we have to struggle within ourselves to be genuine when we speak about our faith, but we have to struggle against our history, the past abuses of people under the broad label of 'Christian'.

Blameless: Not offending; not causing others to stumble.  Paul often talks about being at peace with our fellow man, being a pleasing aroma to our neighbor.  There are so many divisive political issues right now, and in big, black thick ink the line has been drawn between conservative and liberal.  In no way do I think that believers are meant to keep silent and not enter the debate.  But what's our motive when we do debate with others of differing views?  Is it to win them to Christ?  Or is it to win the argument for ourselves?  Paul says in 1Cor. 10:32-33, "Give no offense either to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of many, so that they may be saved."  If our intent is to proclaim Christ in all we do, then even if we do get into a debate with someone over the validity of the healthcare law, they should come away saying, "We might disagree on some issues, but that's a pretty decent character there."  They should be more attracted to the Way of Christ after the debate than before, not necessarily by our words but by the action of being blameless.

-Erika