Philippians 2:12-18: a reflection

12So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14Do all things without complaining and arguing, 15that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, 16holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain. 17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18In the same way, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul urges the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, adding at once that it is God who works in them both to will and to work for his good pleasure, our effort and God's work joined together. And then he gives a strikingly practical command: Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. A life free of grumbling, he says, shines like light in a dark world.

Notice the connection Paul draws between not grumbling and shining as lights. Complaining and arguing are so ordinary, so constant in the world around us, that a life free of them stands out; a person who does all things without grumbling shines like a light against the dark backdrop of a complaining, quarreling generation. It is a humble virtue, but a luminous one: the absence of grumbling makes a life shine.

That is a practical and searching word. Grumbling and complaining come so naturally that we hardly notice them, yet Paul singles them out as something to put away, and links their absence to shining as lights in the world. Imagine how a life genuinely free of grumbling and disputing would stand out in most settings, how it would shine. Ask God to help you do all things, even the hard and tedious things, without grumbling, not because your effort earns anything, but because God works in you, and because such a life shines his light in a dark world. Let the absence of complaint in you be a light that points others to him.

Lord, Paul urged the Philippians to do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that they might shine as lights in a crooked generation, and he reminded them that it is you who work in them both to will and to do. Help me take that to heart. Grumbling and complaining come so naturally to me that I hardly notice them; help me put them away. Let me do all things, even the hard and tedious ones, without grumbling, not to earn anything, but because you work in me, and because such a life shines your light in a dark world. Make the absence of complaint in me a light that points others to you. Work in me both to will and to do your good pleasure, and let me shine.