Mario Andretti, the professional racecar driver, regularly raced at speeds over 200 miles an hour. When asked for a racing tip, he quipped, \u201cDon\u2019t look at the wall.\u201d His point was that a driver\u2019s car follows what the driver is focused on. Where you look is where you go. If you keep looking at the wall, you\u2019ll crash into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul was urging the impressionable believers to keep their focus on Christ. Paul longed for them to flourish in the faith, not to crash into walls of false teaching. In chapter 2, Paul warned the church against legalism, a deception that rejected the sufficiency of Christ\u2019s righteousness that comes from God through faith. Then and now, legalistic thinking insists that it\u2019s a person\u2019s best efforts and striving that make them right with God and with other people. I crash into a wall of legalism when I assume God merely tolerates me instead of remembering that He deeply delights in me as His beloved daughter. I crash when I\u2019m critical and judge others for not meeting my personal expectations and preferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In chapter 3, Paul warned against another danger. While speeding away from the wall of legalism, some may over-correct and ricochet into the wall of licentiousness. This deception insists on throwing off moral restraint in hopes of satisfying all appetites and desires. \u201cTheir end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is their shame,\u201d said Paul (Philippians 3:19). Licentiousness says \u201canything goes,\u201d that if it feels good, you should do it. I crash into a wall of licentiousness when I pridefully believe that I\u2019m above temptation and fail to recognize my need for God\u2019s good boundaries. I crash when I foolishly allow my desires to drive me to do things that hurt myself and hurt others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the root of all legalism and licentiousness is a worship of self above all else. Paul is, in essence, warning, \u201cDon\u2019t look at the wall!\u201d Where you look is where you go. When we focus on ourselves, it\u2019s not long before we crash. But this does not need to rule us. We can stand firm in the Lord as we remember that our true citizenship, our true allegiance, is in heaven with God (v.20). May the Lord capture our hearts and affections, enabling us to focus on Him, worshiping Him alone. The One who made us is also the only One who can save us. Only He truly satisfies our deepest longings and desires, and only He can safely lead us home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mario Andretti, the professional racecar driver, regularly raced at speeds over 200 miles an hour. When asked for a racing tip, he quipped, \u201cDon\u2019t look at the wall.\u201d His point was that a driver\u2019s car follows what the driver is focused on. Where you look is where you go. If you keep looking at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":71280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philippiansandcolossians"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"related_plans":[71272],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"STAND FIRM IN THE LORD<\/b>
\r\nby Patti Sauls<\/i>
\r\n
Mario Andretti, the professional racecar driver, regularly raced at speeds over 200 miles an hour. When asked for a racing tip, he quipped, \u201cDon\u2019t look at the wall.\u201d His point was that a driver\u2019s car follows what the driver is focused on. Where you look is where you go. If you keep looking at the wall, you\u2019ll crash into it.<\/p>
\r\n
In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul was urging the impressionable believers to keep their focus on Christ. Paul longed for them to flourish in the faith, not to crash into walls of false teaching. In chapter 2, Paul warned the church against legalism, a deception that rejected the sufficiency of Christ\u2019s righteousness that comes from God through faith. Then and now, legalistic thinking insists that it\u2019s a person\u2019s best efforts and striving that make them right with God and with other people. I crash into a wall of legalism when I assume God merely tolerates me instead of remembering that He deeply delights in me as His beloved daughter. I crash when I\u2019m critical and judge others for not meeting my personal expectations and preferences.<\/p>
\r\n
In chapter 3, Paul warned against another danger. While speeding away from the wall of legalism, some may over-correct and ricochet into the wall of licentiousness. This deception insists on throwing off moral restraint in hopes of satisfying all appetites and desires. \u201cTheir end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is their shame,\u201d said Paul (Philippians 3:19). Licentiousness says \u201canything goes,\u201d that if it feels good, you should do it. I crash into a wall of licentiousness when I pridefully believe that I\u2019m above temptation and fail to recognize my need for God\u2019s good boundaries. I crash when I foolishly allow my desires to drive me to do things that hurt myself and hurt others.<\/p>
\r\n
At the root of all legalism and licentiousness is a worship of self above all else. Paul is, in essence, warning, \u201cDon\u2019t look at the wall!\u201d Where you look is where you go. When we focus on ourselves, it\u2019s not long before we crash. But this does not need to rule us. We can stand firm in the Lord as we remember that our true citizenship, our true allegiance, is in heaven with God (v.20). May the Lord capture our hearts and affections, enabling us to focus on Him, worshiping Him alone. The One who made us is also the only One who can save us. Only He truly satisfies our deepest longings and desires, and only He can safely lead us home.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"10","scripture":"Philippians 3:17-21, Philippians 4:1, Romans 16:17-20, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12, Titus 2:11-14","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}