I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, (4) always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, (5) for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, (6) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (8) For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. (9) And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, (10) that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, (11) being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 

The letter to the Philippians was written by the apostle Paul.  In our verses today, he begins by expressing confidence in their salvation in Christ. Paul states here in verse 6, the doctrine that NO ONE God has brought to a saving faith will be lost. Wow. What God has begun, He finishes

Scripture teaches salvation is entirely the work of God, not man. In Christ our sins are atoned for, and apart from any human merit God imparts a regeneration to those  He draws near. To quote c.s.lewis from Weight if Glory, “In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not. How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important.”

Paul moves on to discuss knowledge and discernment. He is basically saying that biblical love is based on holiness and truth – we are to stop relying on emotions and traditions and rely on reason – discernment is a cognitive act. The rationality of true faith goes hand in hand with spiritual growth. True faith can be examined, tested, and used for the basis of judgment. Our priorities should not be of this world but of the next which results in glory and praise of God through our lives, words and actions.