Bible Society of South Africa
Gerhard Lindeque

Pentecost – Day 2 (26 June)

God’s Spirit makes us new

Bible text(s)

Philippians 1

Paul's Prayer for his Readers

3I thank my God for you every time I think of you; 4and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy 5because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now. 6And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. 7You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly. 8God is my witness that I am telling the truth when I say that my deep feeling for you all comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.

9I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgement, 10so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ. 11Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:3-11GNBOpen in Bible reader

None of us are perfect. This does not necessarily mean that we are bad people, but that we are all sinners. This is confirmed in several places in the Bible, such as Galatians 5:17 and Romans 7:15. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary for God to constantly mould us.

God’s Spirit works in us. He transforms our lives so that he can work through us. When God’s Spirit works in us, something happens. We begin to see life and people in a different way. As humans, we tend to look at the outward appearance, but God looks at our hearts. God wants to change our attitudes so that we will act differently. The result of this constant working of God’s Spirit in us, is that we will eventually develop a servant’s heart. This is the same attitude that Jesus Christ had.

It is important to remember that it is not us who are capable of this. It is God who works in us and who will continue to do so until the day when Jesus Christ returns. We must always keep in mind that God’s Spirit is also at work in other people, at the same time. We are all sinners with shortcomings and we all make mistakes. Therefore, it is necessary that our love for each other should grow and include understanding, so that we will be able to discern what really matters in life. Once we acknowledge our own weaknesses, we will get better at understanding other people and learn to be more tolerant.

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