Soul on Fire

Which person in your life have you had the most difficulty motivating? A child, a family member, an employee, a student, a team member, a youth group, or maybe yourself? Dallas Willard argues that the great enemy of our spiritual growth is passivity — the idea that God has done everything and you are essentially left to be a consumer of the grace of God. Could it be that our view of the gospel is so small that it leaves us busy with religious activities, but at our core, spiritually unmotivated? Paul knew the grace of God, yet in this next segment of Philippians, we find a man in his early 60’s whose soul is still on fire. He was content (4:12), he rested in Jesus’ righteousness (3:9), yet he pressed to know Jesus with every fiber of his being. We’ll see through his life that we must be intentional in our discipleship.