You Done Good!

4:14 "Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction."

Now, after a diversion on want and contentment (v.11-13), Paul returns to his thank you for the gift send him by the Philippians.

This is much more than a thank you note, but it is certainly nothing less. Paul knows the virtue of affirming those who do well.

The translation here is a little difficult. The most accurate English translation would be: "you did good" but this is poor grammar. (That doesn’t stop us from saying it that way all the time, but the translators couldn’t very well put it into the Bible that way!)

Those who do good should be told that they did good. It is giving praise where praise is due. It is part of encouraging people to do more good. It must be a regular habit of the godly.

If you’re like me, you have to look for opportunities to affirm. I don’t notice them naturally. People can do very thoughtful things for me and I’ll get so focused on the thing that I forget to thank the person. (If you ever did something nice to me and I failed to thank you, please forgive me! And...a belated thank you!) I am learning to affirm ----- the hard way . I wish I had taken the Bible more seriously in this area years ago. Affirmation and expressions of gratitude are such an important part of love! Without them, we don’t reflect well upon Christ, who praised a woman for having enough faith to touch His robe, and who praised a centurion for having enough faith to believe his servant could be healed by Jesus from a distance, and who praised a widow who put two mites into the temple treasury, and who affirmed a blind man for having faith to be healed, and who praised a former prostitute for anointing His feet with perfume, etc. etc. etc.

Jesus found much to praise, even among sinful human beings. Woe to us if we can’t find anything to praise.

Father, forgive me for my failure to affirm those who deserve affirmation. I am self-absorbed and so often I don’t look for ways to love. And even when I think of it, pride frequently gets in my way. Thank you for the example of Paul. Please help me to love like he did. May the words that come out of my mouth be good for edification according to the need of the moment , so that they might give grace to those who hear. May the words, "Well done!" and "Good job!" be a regular part of my speech.