What words or phrases stand out to you in this scripture passage?
Maybe it’s the very first phrase: “I thank God.” Gratitude is always a good thing to focus on.
In the case of this scripture, the apostle Paul is writing from prison to the church at Philippi, which has supported him with thoughts and prayers, but also concrete action, sending people to help him and gifts to support him. How wonderful it was for Paul to have received these gifts and support, and to know that he was not forgotten!
Stuck there in prison, one might think there would be little to be thankful for. Many of us live lives in which we find it hard to be thankful. Things don’t go our way, and instead of grateful, we’re grumpy. But Paul, in prison, begins his letter by expressing deep gratitude.
That’s pretty cool. You could stop right there, at the first verse of our scripture reading, and have more than enough to meditate on for a week.
But maybe it was something else that caught your attention. Maybe v
erse six is what grabbed you: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” Oh, yeah. This is a good verse, and a favorite of many.
When I was in college I actually had a t-shirt with that verse on it… Although back in college the translation I had spoke of the one who began a good work “in you,” and I thought it was talking about me specifically; I later learned that the “you” is plural, and Paul is talking about the Spirit at work in the community… among the people. Unfortunately we often try to make the gospel personal, when - more often than not - it’s communal. It’s not good news for “me.” It’s good news for “us.” All of us.
That’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think it makes this verse even more meaningful and powerful: “The one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion…”
Maybe what caught your attention is the prayer that begins in verse 9, the prayer that “your love may overflow more and more…”
I think that’s the one that, today, grabs my attention most. “That your love may overflow more and more” [NRSV]... “that your love may become more and more rich” [CEB]... “so that you will be able to decide what really matters… so that you will be able to determine what is best.”
I don’t know about you, but when I have to make an important decision, I tend to analyze it in my mind… I tend to think about it. And sometimes I might overthink and over-analyze…
But the process of making that decision is centered in my mind.
And I must confess that I am biased into thinking that this is as it should be. We make decisions with our minds… not with our hearts. That’s my bias.
But where does that come from?
Perhaps it's that “thinking" is considered more of a masculine way of relating to the world - it’s more “manly” - while “loving” (and “feeling”) is seen as more feminine.
If you were to write a book about how the mind thinks, your publisher would probably suggest a cover that contains “manly" images; bold, dark colors, and maybe even a pseudo-sciencey sketch or diagram.
But if your book is about how the heart feels, your publisher would probably recommend more feminine images - things like flowers and pastel colors.
Our society is still biased toward what is masculine, and men, especially, feel the pressure to act in ways that are more masculine and less feminine. So most men, I think, would choose manly thinking over feminine feeling as the best way to make a decision.
The Bible doesn't see things this way. If thinking is masculine and loving is feminine, then the Bible engages in some gender bending. And even though we think with our mind and feel with our heart, the Bible wants us to also think with our heart and feel with our mind.
It mixes things up and turns things upside down.
And, in case you haven't noticed, the Bible is always mixing things up and turning things upside down.
Think with your heart. Feel with your mind...
When the Bible says that the process of making a decision is rooted in a love that becomes more and more rich, that catches my attention. And at first, I’m tempted to reject that notion. I'm tempted to argue that decision making is a thinking process, not a feeling or loving process. I want to argue that decision making takes place in the mind, not in the heart. I want to argue that important decisions should be rooted in thinking.
But the Bible argues that important decisions should also be rooted in love.
It’s not an either/or thing. It’s not that we should engage in feeling in place of thinking. The Bible emphasizes both… Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, body, and mind.
And Jesus tells those who would follow him to carefully consider the cost, something that seems to me to be a very mind-oriented activity.
Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 14: “If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’
“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off.”
These little examples that Jesus presented seem stereotypically masculine, very thinking-oriented, to me.
Then Jesus says that those who want to follow him must consider the demands that will be placed on them. Those who follow Jesus will be asked to make many sacrifices. They will be asked to give their whole lives, and all their possessions and all their money, over to Jesus.
Consider the cost, he says… and doing so is a very mind-oriented activity.
But love is also involved. Namely, what do you love more: your possessions and your money, or Jesus? What do you love more: the life you have created for yourself, or the life to which Jesus calls you? What is it that you are willing to love with all your heart, soul, body, and mind?
These are big questions. They are the biggest questions you will be ever asked. They are certainly too big for either the heart or the mind to tackle alone. Both heart and mind must be involved.
So since I tend to be more of a mind person than a heart person, this is important for me to remember. And, recently, when I’ve been faced with decisions that are difficult or important, I’ve been trying to remind myself to ask: “What would love do?”
Because despite what my biases may suggest, love is not strictly feminine. Women may be better at incorporating love into their decision making, but if men think that love is too feminine, too soft, too weak, they should reconsider. The love that the Bible talks about is not soft or weak. It is bold and powerful.
The love that the Bible talks about is what motivates people to fight for justice and equality. The love that the Bible talks about is what motivates people to respond compassionately after disaster strikes. The love that the Bible talks about is nothing less than core element of creation itself.
All of creation, the whole universe, was created by God as an act of love. Each person was created by God as an act of love. YOU were created by God as an act of love, and you were created to share that love with those around you.
Love is what makes life worth living. Brilliant minds often fall into despair, but love keeps them going. Songs are written about all sorts of love; romantic love, mostly, but other forms of love as well.
Elvis didn’t sing, “Think me tender…” The Beatles didn’t sing, “All You Need is Thinking…” U2 didn’t write, “In the name of thinking…”
In addition to the gender stereotypes of feelings being feminine and thinking being masculine, I also think we have too narrow a definition of love, and that limits how we use love to help us make decisions.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said of agape love that “it is understanding, creative, redemptive good will for all… It is the love of God working in the minds of men [and women].” Even he has seen how love is not limited to the heart, but also dwells in the mind...
And when we invite someone to join the church, we ask them: “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God?” That sounds to us like a very thinking-oriented statement. “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ… Do you agree in your mind that this is true?”
But really, it’s as much a question of the heart as it is of the mind. It’s not just “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ,” but, “Do you believe in Jesus the Christ?” Do you believe in him? Do you give him your heart?
That’s what’s really being asked.
So clearly, I need to change the way I make decisions. And I’ve been trying to ask myself more often, “What would love do?” This is a helpful question for me. It helps keep me from overthinking or over-analyzing things. “What would love do?”
And I do pray that my love will become “more and more rich,” as the scripture says in the Common English translation. I pray that my love will become more and more rich, so that I will be able to decide what really matters, and determine what is best.
And when I do make a decision based on love, it may not be the easiest decision, and yet I feel less anxiety. I feel more peace within, because a decision based on love, though it may be a more challenging decision, it is the right decision.
Yeah. Sometimes the decision love leads us to is very difficult, very challenging. Love does not always take the easy way out. Love leads us to something higher, something more meaningful, and sometimes we must struggle to get there.
But love is, as Paul says, the greatest of all.
So let us join our prayers to those of Paul. Let us pray that our love may overflow more and more, that our love may become more and more rich, so that we will be able to decide what really matters… so that we will be able to determine what is best.
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