What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:9

Tonight, as we drove home from a day at King’s Island, one of my grandsons observed that driving looks to be easy. Do you remember the first time you sat behind the wheel of a car? Was it easy? I remember teaching my grandson’s mother how to drive. Learning to drive can be quite an experience. I remember learning to drive when I was an eager teenager and I recall the experience of trying to teach my daughter how to shift a manual transmission.

Being able to drive expands your world. It provides freedom of movement and independence, but driving also brings us more responsibility as we follow the rules of the road. Navigating a four-way stop requires cooperation. We observe speed limits (most of the time).

In the passage above, Paul tells the Philippians how to put what they have “learned and received and heard and seen” in Paul. That is a confident statement to make, but Paul’s life backed it up. Paul learned what it was to a follower of Christ and encouraged others to do the same. He was fulfilling the command of Jesus to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you“(Matthew 28:19-20a).

This is what Christ meant earlier in Matthew when He said, “learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).