Godless life... as a Christian? (Phil 3)

'Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.' Phil 3:19

Here is the absolute antithesis of what we, as Christians, should be. And yet we are so often guilty of thinking in that very same mindset. Paul here writes four phrases about the ungodly. Here is how we can fall into the same traps:

1. Destiny of destruction. We often fear what we do not need to fear- death and destruction. How you view death provides a good reflection of your faith. If our faith is strong, we need not fear death ('Where, O death, is thy sting?'- 1 Cor 15). Jesus is risen, and we have the gift of eternal life.
On the other hand, we must not become complacent about those who have not accepted Jesus. Paul reminds us here that their destiny is one of destruction. It is very tempting at times to mince the Word so that it is more palatable, more acceptable to our views of what a merciful, loving God should be. Instead, we are called to accept the truth of God's Word -after all, it is by this Word that we know we are saved- and endeavour to spread the Gospel and explain it to those who need it most- non-believers.

2. Their god is their stomach. Marlowe's play Dr Faustus contains this profound statement: 'The god thou serv'st is the god of thine own appetite.' I don't think this phrase applies merely to gluttony. It describes the ungodly as those who follow their own desires above God's desires for them. They do what they want to do without considering God's expectations of them. How much worse is this for a believer, who knows what God expects of them, and still deliberately follows his own desires? Sometimes we even try to justify ourselves before God: 'God wouldn't want me to be unhappy.' We need to be on our guard that we don't try and cover up self-indulgence with the label of God's will.

3. Glory in shame. The ungodly revel in doing the forbidden, in rebelling against morality and taking their own independent stand. Surely we as Christians cannot be guilty of this? Unfortunately we probably are. We all commit sin due to our fallen nature, and every time we do it, it always seems more attractive than the reality. But the phrase 'glory in shame' doesn't just mean sinning, it means glorying in sin. Perhaps that is harder for us as Christians to apply to ourselves- we usually have that nagging voice in our head reminding us that what we're doing is wrong, and we usually experience guilt as soon as we err. But some sins actually glory in shame itself, like gossip.
Gossip is not only a sin in itself, but it also involves us revelling in other people's sins. We are then glorifying shame. Perhaps sometimes we don't take a strong stand against things that God's Word proclaims to be wrong, because we don't want to offend people or be controversial. But silence is often construed as agreement. If we don't add a Christian input to a conversation, not only does it look like we agree with any non-Christian sentiments that are being expressed, but we are denying the Holy Spirit within us who calls us to witness whenever we can. A recent survey revealed that many people are disillusioned with the Church, not because it takes a controversial stand on contemporary issues, but because (in their view) it takes no stand at all. Are we, as the voice of the Church and of Christ on earth, fully representing our faith? Or do we leave this to the ministers, or for when we're not around people who are hostile to our views?

4. Mind on earthly things. This is perhaps the easiest one of all to relate to ourselves. We worry about bills, money, our homes, cars, studies, work... So many things preoccupy our minds when we're supposed to be keeping our eyes on Jesus. Paul writes about staying focussed in order to win the race he is running as a Christian. You'll never finish the race if you don't stay focussed. And the more and more focus we have on God, the more and more our perspective widens and we understand how irrelevant our earthly preoccupations are, in comparison to God's plan for us and our eternity with Him.