Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

 Good morning. Now we are in the book of Philippians. Again we may be repeating things we've said before. Paul said that he was confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. God did not save us and then leave us. He had more in mind for us than that. He will keep working on us until the very end. He prayed that their love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that they may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Again, He did not save us and then leave us. He does not want us to be ignorant nor to have "false" knowledge. You cannot know if something is excellent in order to approve it, unless you have real knowledge. He wants us to be sincere and blameless. That is impossible to do on our own. The harder you try, the more likely you will fail. We can only do this because we have been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Again Paul did not have a pity party even though he was in prison. He said that his circumstances had turned out for the greater progress of the gospel so that his imprisonment in the cause of Christ became well known throughout the whole guard and to everyone else. And that others trusting in the Lord because of his imprisonment had far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Too many times we bemoan our circumstances instead of letting God use them to His glory. Father thank You that the reader allows You to continue the good work in him/her that You began. He/she is filled with real knowledge and all discernment. He/she will be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.