1 My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don’t waver. Stay on track, steady in God. 2I urge Euodia and Syntyche to iron out their differences and make up. God doesn’t want his children holding grudges. 3And, oh, yes, Syzygus, since you’re right there to help them work things out, do your best with them. These women worked for the Message hand in hand with Clement and me, and with the other veterans—worked as hard as any of us. Remember, their names are also in the Book of Life. 4-5Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! (Philippians 4:1-5)
Working hard for the Message is a way to help people see the Lord is about to arrive. The harder you work, the more the people would believe the coming of Christ is true. One day, your manager asks you to handle a project. He tells you that the request is urgent, the project is crucial and is due in 3 weeks. He even tells you all the possible consequences if the deadline is not met. So, you work very hard and stay late every day. You seek for all possible help that you can think of. Two weeks passed, no one asked you about the project. Your boss does not follow-up with you regarding the progress. You approach your boss trying to make sure that you are on the right track. Every time that you approach your boss, he says he is busy and asks you to come at another time. You may start asking yourself, “Is the project really urgent and crucial? How come the boss seems not care?” As an employee, it is hard to keep yourself motivated when your boss shows no support and care. Sometimes, we are like the boss, keep telling people that the Christ is coming. We show them “evidence” and tell them the consequences of not believing. However, we live a life without any sense of urgency. As times go by, it would be hard for people to believe us about the coming of Christ. People may think, if the coming of Christ is true, you probably would live your life as it is your last day. We need to help people see the Lord is about to arrive by working hard. We need to convince people the coming of Christ is true by living a life with sense of urgency.
“Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!”
