16 Take a strong hold on the Word of Life.
15 In that way, you can prove yourselves to be without blame. You are God's children and no one can talk against you, even in a sin-loving and sin-sick world. You are to shine as lights among the sinful people of this world.
14 Be glad you can do the things you should be doing. Do all things without arguing and talking about how you wish you did not have to do them.
13 He is working in you. God is helping you obey Him. God is doing what He wants done in you.
12 My Christian friends, you have obeyed me when I was with you. You have obeyed even more when I have been away. You must keep on working to show you have been saved from the punishment of sin. Be afraid that you may not please God.
11 And every tongue will say Jesus Christ is Lord. Everyone will give honor to God the Father.
10 So when the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow down before Him.
9 Because of this, God lifted Jesus high above everything else. He gave Him a name that is greater than any other name.
8 After He became a man, He gave up His important place and obeyed by dying on a cross.
7 He put aside everything that belonged to Him and made Himself the same as a servant who is owned by someone. He became human by being born as a man.
6 Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God.
5 Think as Christ Jesus thought.
4 Do not always be thinking about your own plans only. Be happy to know what other people are doing.
3 Nothing should be done because of pride or thinking about yourself. Think of other people as more important than yourself.
2 Then give me true joy by thinking the same thoughts. Keep having the same love. Be as one in thoughts and actions.
1 Are you strong because you belong to Christ? Does His love comfort you? Do you have joy by being as one in sharing the Holy Spirit? Do you have loving-kindness and pity for each other?
-- Philippians 2:15->1 (NCV)
Normally I have something to write after a Word reversal to explain or expand the meaning to the current point of view. This time I don't. Pride puts out your light.
Read this passage forward and then reversed and ask yourself "Are you strong because..?"
In this reversal, there are a few points that the meanings seem slightly impaired by the reversal. This is a draft version, and likely to change. for now these notes should be taken carefully with the reversal.
1. In verse 15, the words "In that way" should still be highlighting verse 13-15, not verse 16. It is misleading to have these specific words present as they imply verse 16 (reading the Bible) is "that way" instead of 'shining' and letting God work in you.
2. In verse 9, the 'Because of this' refers to vs 5-8 and not 12-10.
I eventually will have to repost this with various versions due to specific copyright rules on percentages of content (this post is over 50% NCV at the moment..) but the words here are so much clearer than a rehash, I'm compelled to leave this draft viewable.
