Before this morning, I don’t think it’s ever occurred to me that I have literally grown up with the opening phrase of Philippians 2:16. Grown up, not in the physical sense . . . but in the spiritual sense . . . this phrase being an integral part of my Christian experience pretty much from the earliest days of my Christian walk . . . from the start of that time when God graciously infused me with a desire to live for Christ. Not that I memorized it . . . or that it was constantly preached at me . . . actually, it hung on a wall . . . in a humble little chapel . . . at a well-used Bible Camp.

” . . . holding fast the word of life . . . ” (Philippians 2:16)

As I read those words this morning, I see the text hanging on the wall in the chapel at Morning Star Bible Camp. That camp, that little chapel, and that faded text, have been anchors for my Christian walk for over 30 years. From the first time I walked into that camp to work as a “junior counselor” at a teens camp (had no idea what that was) . . . through experiencing some of the sweetest weeks of fellowship I’ve ever known as we “escaped from the world” for the week to serve and to sing and to soar in the glories of His love . . . to seeing each of my girls, from the time they were infants, grow up with an annual trek to Morning Star as part of normal life . . . that camp . . . that little chapel . . . and that magnificent text, it occurs to me, have been foundational.

And as I read it in different translations, I see it’s translated in two slightly different ways. Most translations says “holding fast” the word of life while the Authorized Version and the NIV exhort believers with “holding forth” the word of life. Both are true . . .

It starts with the word of life . . . the gospel of new things . . . the good news of rebirth leading to life abundant. It is the word of God . . . living, powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. It is the word of power . . . power to redeem . . . power to restore . . . power to renew. God breathed . . . Spirit taught . . . life transforming through the renewing of our minds. It is the word of life . . . and it is our responsibility to hold fast the word of life . . . and our responsibility to hold forth the word of life. And, if I’m read Paul correctly, we do the latter when we do the former.

I am to hold fast to the word of life . . . clinging to the truths graciously revealed through the Scriptures . . . determining, as much as lies in me, and by the power of the Spirit, to walk in accord with God’s revealed way . . . trusting, as I continually feed on the word, that the work of being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ is being accomplished . . . desiring never to stray from the way God has called me to. That’s holding fast . . . that’s working out my salvation . . . that’s responding to God’s work in me “both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (2:12-13).

And when I hold fast, then I hold forth. Through pursuing the things of God, almost by default, we become “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among who you shine as lights in the world” (2:15). And I don’t have to manufacture my light . . . as I pursue the Light of the World who saved me for His glory, I’ll start to glow like Him . . . as I seek first the kingdom of God, I’ll become an ambassador in a foreign land . . . as I strengthen my grip on the truth revealed, I’ll become a beacon shining forth the grace revealed.

Huh . . . and to think . . . God’s been reminding me of that consistently for years and years . . . through a well-used Bible camp . . . a worn down little chapel . . . a faded text on the wall . . . and a foundational truth that continues to change my life. Oh, that I might continue to hold fast by His grace . . . and hold forth for His glory . . . amen.