June 17, 2019
BIBLE READING: Philippians 1
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
I believe verse seven in this passage is where the term “y’all“ began. When Paul said “Ye all”, those of us Southerners just turned it into one word. However, in the south, that could mean one person, or a bunch of people, or it can mean everyone in the world. When someone says I hate “y’all “, it can mean I hate you, or it can mean I hate all of you. LOL. Well enough of that!
In this passage Paul meant all believers. Specifically, he meant all the believers at this church in Philippi, but it applies to all believers everywhere. Paul said he was “confident” that God would be faithful to complete in a person’s life what God had begun. Paul is saying that when you place your faith and trust in the Lord, you can count on the fact that God will ‘never leave you nor for sake you’ and that nothing could ‘separate you from the love of God’.
This word “perform” means to fulfill, to accomplish, to complete, and literally to do it. Paul is saying that whatever is needed in your journey of serving the Lord, God will supply it. Whatever burden you cannot carry; God will bear it. Whatever task is too great for you, God will do it. Paul was confident of this, and you and I should be also. How horrible would it be to be saved, to try to serve the Lord, and then not have His help to do so. We would have no chance.
So how is all this done? Well, we have to go back to our good southern word. The reason Paul was so confident that God would do this in the heart of every believer is because Paul was convinced that “Ye all”, or “y’all”, “are partakers of my grace”. Paul is saying that he believed every believer had access to the same grace that Paul had access to. And Paul believed that God’s “grace is sufficient for thee”.
I believe with all my heart that because you and I have access to the grace of God, we have everything we need to do what God has asked us to do. We have everything that we need to live this life in this world with a pure heart. Remember today, “His grace is sufficient for thee”. Be “confident” of that.