No "ifs" about it!
1-2 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. (Philippians 2:1-2 The Message) We often skip over the "small" words of the Bible, almost without noticing that they really convey a tremendous amount in how we interpret what it is we are reading. For example, when we see a statement that sets up a condition one way, then is joined to another statement with the word "but", that simple word "but" declares the initial condition as no longer applying because the second condition set out is really the accurate way we should see things. In this passage above, the little word with much meaning is the word "if". Let's dig in: 1) IF you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ... This st...