November 4th, 2016

.PHILIPPIANS 3:17–4:1

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved. 

PSALM 122

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the Lord.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R. 
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,

the tribes of the Lord. R. 
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.  R.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever keeps the word of Christ,
the love of God is truly perfected in him. 1 Jn 2:5
Alleluia, alleluia.

LUKE 16:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.

MEDITATION

He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body. (Philippians 3:21)

Rummaging through your father’s drawer—the one filled with old keepsakes—you discover an unfamiliar photograph. It’s he as a teenager, grinning. He’s standing on a dock, poised to leap into a serene lake. The photographer must have managed to capture his attention the instant before the plunge. It’s hard to peel your eyes away from his vibrant young face.

Photos of our parents in their youth can be riveting. We recognize them because their core features remain—but still, how different they look! Gazing into their eyes in an old snapshot, it’s like we’re meeting them for the first time.

If it’s this much fun to see our parents young, can you imagine how it would feel to see ourselves as we will be, when our lowly bodies are glorified, and we’re changed into the very image of Jesus Christ? “Thrilling” is probably a good guess. Paul must have felt this excitement as he wrote to the believers in Philippi. Surely, they would have also been delighted to consider how God’s power would, one day, complete their work of transformation.

Take a few moments right now to envision this heavenly snapshot. See the you that will inhabit eternity: your eyes glimmer with light reflected from the Son of God. You are grinning widely because you have been tasting the eternal fruit of years spent trying to follow the Lord. Every burden has been lifted. Every inner hurt has been healed. Your battle against sin is forever won. God’s unique imprint of his own personality within yours has, at last, been fully revealed. 

Isn’t it encouraging to recognize this person is you? It’s the you that even right now, the Spirit is working to uncover. Through the storms, trials, stretching, and monotonies of life, the old version of you is peeling away, and Christ in you, the hope of glory, is being revealed. God won’t stop until his transforming work is finished.

If this little exercise is stirring up hunger for a spiritual breakthrough of some sort, carry it to the Lord in your prayer. Ask him to help you work on one specific area. And be on the lookout for evidence of the changes taking place.

“Lord, take me! Melt me, mold me, and use me."

Word Among Us.