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And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ\u2014to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

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Just as Paul gave two words of thanks, so he gives two petitions at the end of his opening words of thanksgiving.\xa0 That fact makes me wonder how balanced my prayers are\u2014am I just as full of thanks to God as I am of requests to him?\xa0 Being thankful can be spontaneous, sure, but it is also a disciplined habit of faith: to learn to give thanks and to search for the good that can be given thanks for in all situations.\xa0 In fact, in the long run, I think this is the only way to remain a person of gratitude and generosity, by intentionally searching out just how much of our lives are given us and not earned\u2014how much of our lives are gifts from God for which we can give thanks.

But here Paul moves on to requests.\xa0 The first of them is that \u201cyour love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you might be able to discern what is best.\u201d\xa0 Paul joins two seemingly contradictory things here in this petition.\xa0 Love and knowledge.\xa0 Heart and mind.\xa0 There are a few culture war battle lines in the church that are (seemingly) drawn directly between these two worlds of the heart and the mind.\xa0 A side of \u201cyou don\u2019t love correctly\u201d shouts out at a side of \u201cyou don\u2019t know correctly,\u201d which gladly shouts back.\xa0

Perhaps this is why it\u2019s a prayer and not a given: Paul prays, knowing that we tend to split these two things apart and fight each other over the space between.\xa0 But Paul also prays, knowing that both are required to \u201cbe able to discern what is best.\u201d\xa0 When either heart or mind are flattened or squeezed out of the conversation, the church is impoverished.\xa0 We need both.\xa0 We need each other.\xa0 All the gifts of the body of Christ have their place.

The second petition is that you \u201cmay be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ\u2014to the glory and praise of God.\u201d\xa0 This one is interesting.\xa0 Paul prays for things that seemingly come simply by God\u2019s doing anyway.\xa0 That the Philippians be pure and blameless: are they doing it, or is God?\xa0 That they are filled with fruit\u2014does Jesus fill them with this fruit, or do they have to cultivate it?\xa0 Is fruitfulness a natural implication of life in Christ without any extra effort on our part, or do we have some role to play? \xa0

This petition echoes with something Paul already said.\xa0 There is a trust that \u201che who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.\u201d\xa0 God will do it, but it is not yet done\u2014the day of Christ has not yet arrived.\xa0 So in this interim time between the beginning of God\u2019s work and its completion in the day of Christ, Paul joins his prayer to the work and will of God.\xa0 It\u2019s a way of praying \u201cyour will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\u201d\xa0 In the very same way, we are still invited to work and live into these fruitful gifts of God\u2014recognizing that it is always God working in us and not our own doing, but also that we have a calling to join and participate in this good work until that day of Christ Jesus.\xa0

Because the emphasis does finally fall on God\u2019s accomplishment though, there\u2019s no reason to fall into despair or cynicism when it seems like sin, evil, and the grief of this world have the upper hand\u2014whether in us, our families, or in our church\u2014because God is nevertheless, still at work.\xa0 And God will see it done.\xa0 The day of Christ Jesus is coming.\xa0 So until that day, let these verses also be our work and prayer.

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