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A new friend of mine, who has undergone some rather difficult, yet admittedly deserved, public scrutiny, shared these verses as an encouragement to me. Having undergone some far less visible crises, I'm beginning to realize an important quality of a disciple of Jesus: they absorb godly discipline and receive it as a blessing. Yet this is far from a masochistic love of punishment. Rather, we are learning to accept and love ourselves just as Christ loves us. right where we are, warts and all. It takes some weathering in life to finally admit that we are not as perfect as we would wish to believe or have others believe.

This prayer of Paul, that the Philippian Church would "abound still more and more in real knowledge and discernment," has an unstated prerequisite: that we remain vulnerable to our growth curve. As John writes in his epistle, "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we are unable to receive with sincerity the brutal truth about ourselves, which is a grace, we will never be able to attain to the "real knowledge and discernment" and actually experience the spiritual vitality Paul is writing about.

I'm reminded by my friend, through his circumstances, that we are being filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus. I'm so grateful for his courage, and trust he'll be rewarded for it.