Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the Message version Relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading Reading today from Philippians.

1:1 11 From the Message Paul and Timothy Both of us are committed servants of Christ Jesus.

Write this letter to all the followers of Jesus in Philippi, pastors and ministers included.

We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

A love that will grow.

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.

Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.

I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.

I'm so pleased that you have continued on in this with me, with us, believing and proclaiming God's message from the day you heard it right up to the present.

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring you to a flourishing finish in the very day Christ Jesus appears.

It's not at all fanciful for me to think this was way about you.

My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality.

You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial and came out of it in one piece.

All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God.

He knows how much I love and miss you.

These days.

Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does.

So this is my prayer that your love will flourish and you will not only love much, but well.

Learn to love appropriately.

You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental.

Gush.

Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of bountiful and fruits from the soil, making Jesus Christ.

Attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

Well, my friends, welcome back.

Glad you're here today.

Here in the daily Bible refresh.

And, and I mean that whatever situation you find yourself, if it's in the morning, you're just waking up, getting going, maybe you're on your commute or maybe you're doing laundry or doing something else like that.

Hey, it's great to be alive.

Great to be with you.

My wife and I were out to take a beautiful spring day recently, out taking a walk among the trees and a wood park near us.

And it's just one of those days where you just kind of.

Just a beautiful spring day could have stayed out all day.

There's something about the woods and the quiet that just centers me.

So wherever you're at right now, I'm honored to share a few minutes with you.

And what a letter we've got to take a look at here today.

Paul is writing from prison and is essentially saying, every time I think of you, I smile.

Ha ha.

That is a deeply encouraging human moment.

And the whole passage is dripping with this warm, grounded affection that I think has a lot to teach us today.

So let's get into a couple points to ponder.

The first one is this, that love needs a brain.

Paul prays that the Philippians love will flourish.

But notice how he qualifies it.

He doesn't just say love more, he says love.

Well, he says, learn to love appropriately, sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.

That phrase.

Did you get that?

Not sentimental gush.

That got my attention.

Didn't you?

And so, see, progressive Christianity has long pushed back on the idea that love is just some warm, oogly, googly feeling that generates only on Sunday mornings.

Real love.

The kind of love that looks like Jesus is engaged with every aspect of life.

It's thoughtful, it asks hard questions, and it shows up even when it's inconvenient.

It uses its head.

I do a weekly cancer related podcast all about cancer and living a hopeful, humor filled life with that.

And I've been doing it for about three years now.

And the most meaningful moments aren't when someone shows up with a perfect inspirational quote and story.

Many times it's the meaningful stories, meaningful moments.

When someone who has generally thought about the suffering that they're going through and what they need right now and what they need to offer right now, then acts on it.

That's intelligent love.

That's what Paul is talking about right here.

A second point to ponder.

God doesn't quit on you.

Here's a line that hit me hard throughout this passage here.

It's quote, there has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that, that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it.

Close quote.

Oh, man, I love that.

See, God doesn't abandon a project.

Once again, things get a little difficult.

That's a.

And that is kind of a really a countercultural thing to hear.

We live in a world where everything is disposable.

You know, in, in, at.

In sports teams.

I follow the pro teams in my town, Indianapolis, and teams will trade away players and get players in.

And sometimes if somebody has a bad season, they're gone and things like that.

And there could be up seasons and down seasons.

You know, if you're an IU football fan, Indiana University football fan, lots of down seasons and then a championship season this year.

Things have an ups and it goes.

But we know what it's like to watch a rebuild.

But God doesn't do rebuilds on you the way maybe a sports franchise would.

God stays and keeps with you and keeps at it.

Been married to my wonderful wife for over 34 years now, and we've got three wonderful adult kids and a couple of granddaughters who.

And laughing with them and telling stories with them is just one of the greatest things of my life.

None of that happened because anyone quit on each other.

I will never quit on my kids or my grandkids, and they won't quit on me.

Theologically speaking, God is the one who set that in motion and never stopped working.

It's not a small thing for you to sit with today that God will never quit on you.

So here's your action step for the day.

Think of someone in your life who has been showing up for you, maybe through something hard, maybe just being there consistently over time.

And reach out to them now.

Reach out to them.

Not with some generic, hey, how are you doing?

Thing, but a specific thoughtful message about maybe some pertinent memory in your experience with them and tell them exactly what their presence meant to you.

Hey, Paul wrote a whole letter about this.

You've got a phone, you've got the Internet.

Do something about it.

Just takes a couple minutes.

Go love somebody well and intelligently today.

We're going to come back and have a prayer here.

Just a second.

First, want you to know that we've got a resource for you called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Head over to our website, voiceofgodaily.com it's free for you there.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for not quitting on us.

Thank you that whatever work you started in our messy, complicated, beautifully ordinary lives, you are still at it today.

Teach us to love the way Paul prays.

Not with hollow words and sentimental gush, but with our whole selves, our heads and our hearts together.

And for the person listening right now who is sitting with a hard season in life, maybe a hard diagnosis or a hard relationship, or maybe you're just having a bad day, I just want you to remind them that, God, you're still at it.

You're still at work within them.

Help us all to love the people in our lives in ways that are specific, thoughtful and real.

And may that love in some small way make you look good in the world around you.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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Thanks much.

My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, gets created new every morning.