Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I get to have these conversations with my daughter. It's one of my favorite things. We talk almost every night. She tells me about her day. I tell her about my day, and I'm often looking for opportunities to tell her something that I think she needs to hear. Maybe it's a truth from the Bible—a lot of the time it is. I'll get this look from her often, and she'll say something like this and sort of roll her eyes, and she says, "Dad, you've already told me this."
I'm thinking, I know I've already told you this, and I'm telling you again, and I'm going to tell you again and again, because these things that I'm telling you, at least for me, I think they're really important. Here's what we do with people we love. There are things that we want them to hear over and over again.
Paul's Repetition
When Paul writes this letter to the Philippians, he's thinking the same way, which is why he says, "I never get tired of telling you these things." In other words, he's saying them over and over again, "and I do it to safeguard your faith." Let's just break that down for a minute.
First, Paul says, "I never get tired of telling you these things." In other words, it is a pleasure for Paul to say some things and some truths over and over again. In his mind, there are some things that are worth repeating, and so he gladly does that. If you read Paul's letters, you'll see that he will say some of the same truths over and over again, maybe in some different ways, but it's the same truth.
The second thing Paul says is "I do it to safeguard your faith." In other words, this is for your good. One of the ways, in Paul's mind, that he is protecting the Philippians—whom he loves—is by repeating certain truths over and over again.
What Are You Hearing?
What truths are you hearing over and over again that safeguard your faith? I find that most of us are consuming so much information on any given week, so much information that it's really impossible to process any of it. What are you listening to? Where is it coming from? Are you able to hear some truths that are really important over and over again?
This should happen in your local church. One thing that you we should hear over and over again, is the most important truth. That is the Gospel. I say that because Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that that is the thing of most importance. He said many important things, but of most importance is the Gospel.
The Gospel
What is the Gospel? What comes to your mind? I've heard so many answers to that question. The Bible. No. Good people go to heaven. No. Jesus died for me. Maybe that's closer to the answer, but do we really understand the Gospel? That word means good news, and it is the good news of what Jesus has done to save us.
Do you know that you are a sinner and that you need to be saved from your sin? You need to be saved from yourself. You need to be saved from the righteous wrath of God against sin and sinners. Your salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, who came, lived the life that you and I should live, suffered and died, and then rose from the dead in the place of sinners like you and like me, so that sinners like you and like me could be saved.
That is not just something you need to hear and believe to become a Christian. That is something you need to hear over and over again to be a Christian. Martin Luther understood this in the 1500s when he said, "Most necessary it is therefore that we should know this Gospel well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually."
Friends, make sure in your church, in your life, that you are hearing the Gospel over and over again. Philippians chapter 3, verse 1: "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith."
