The Main Thing, Is to Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing

September 18, 2014

The Main Thing, Is to Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:12-13

The passage quoted above is the beginning of the Apostle Paul’s ‘Thank-You’ note to the Philippians. His friends in Philippi had sent provisions for Paul, and expressions of their love for him when he was in jail, probably in Rome. In the note, Paul told his friends in Philippi that he had learned the secret of living in every situation. Wouldn’t you love to know Paul’s secret? Wait, don’t run too quickly to verse thirteen, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength,” because that powerful affirmation from Paul is the result of knowing the secret, not the secret itself.

Paul gives us insight to his secret with the marvelous benediction he uses to close his Thank-You note: “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen” (Philippians 4:19-20).

Paul’s passion for life flowed from his understanding of grace. Yes, grace is God’s unmerited favor, but it is so much more. The word translated as grace in the Bible can also be translated gift, and it is used to describe the gifts the Holy Spirit imparts to believers. Grace is one of the cornerstones of our faith that is a fruit of the Protestant Reformation. Sola Gratia, Latin for grace alone, describes how Paul could affirm “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a NRSV). It is by Sola Gratia that Simeon could ask Wesley the rhetorical question, “What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?” and it is by Sola Gratia that Wesley could answer, “Yes, altogether.”

By the way, the Latin word, gratia, that is translated grace, can also be translated, gratitude. I believe that describes Paul’s secret. He lived Sola gratia, by grace alone, and by a heart flowing with gratitude for the gift of life imparted by God the Father Almighty. A Yiddish poem by Hirsch Oscherovitch, “Der Ikker” (The Main Thing) captures the importance of “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking” until you discover for yourself Paul’s secret.

If your outlook

on things has changed –

this is not the main thing.

If you feel like laughing

at old dreams –

this is not the main thing.

If you recall errors

of which you are ashamed –

this is not the main thing.

Even if you know

that, what you are doing now,

you’ll regret some other time –

this is not the main thing either.

But beware lightheartedly

to conclude from this

that there is no such thing

as a main thing –

this is the main thing.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.