Viewpoint Sample
Editorial: An Approved Character
Dr. Stewart Custer, Editor
The Apostle Paul could set himself up as an example by saying, "Brethren, be ye followers of me" (Phil. 3:17). Although he specifically disclaimed sinless perfection (Phil. 3:12), he did zealously "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). With all the earnestness of an Olympic athlete, Paul strove to make his life count for his Lord and Savior. His was not the worry and struggle of one running in his own strength, but the determined effort of a man depending on the Lord Jesus Christ for his whole life and all of his service (Phil. 4:13).
The character of the Apostle Paul is manifested in the Epistle to the Philippians. This book breathes the very aura of the great Christian virtues of joy, love, faith, and hope. Many men writing from a prison cell show clearly the bitterness and despair which permeates their existence. There was none of this for Paul. He could face possible death with the calm faith that he would then be with the Lord forever (Phil. 3:23); he could face the uncertain future with the confident hope that Christ was able to subdue all things unto Himself (Phil. 3:21); he could write the Philippian brethren to diligently work out their own salvation, knowing that it was God who was at work both in them and in himself (Phil. 2:12, 13). But above all, his epistle is filled with the joy of the Lord (Phil. 3:1, 4:4). The suffering he had endured and the crisis he had met had only made him more like the Lord he served. This veteran of "the wars of the Lord" manifested an approved character which all Christians ought to study.
How sad that Paul, in mentioning Timothy, could say, "I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's" (Phil. 2:20, 21). This kind of approved character was as rare in Paul's day as it is today. How much the Lord prizes a character like his! Let us all heed Paul's admonition "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life" (Phil. 2:15, 16).