THANKFUL

Chatting with Jesus

Monday, January 29, 2024

Lord, if we faced what the Apostle Paul endured throughout his ministry, how many would give up and walk away? Most likely, I’d be tempted.

People hostile to the Gospel were hostile to Paul as well. Three times misguided religious people beat him with rods to “correct” his theology.  He suffered isolation, imprisonments, hunger. Mediterranean cruises failed to live up to their advertisements. He was shipwrecked three times. Once, after he healed a man crippled from birth, the good folks at Lystra were so thankful, they stoned Paul and left him for dead (Acts 14).

Despite Paul’s hardships, through it all he remained upbeat and excited about preaching the Gospel.  How did he do it? Of course, God’s grace enabled him to endure, but he had to do his part as well. He let the Philippian believers in on his secret to remain enthusiastic about the Gospel.

“[remain] full of joy, pray about everything, be considerate to all people. Remember all God has done for you and thank him for it” (Philippians 4:4–7).

Paul then described his part to remain upbeat and on top of life’s circumstances.

 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Put these into practice and the peace of God will be with you” (Philippians 4:8, 9).

The peace of God amid his trials? Paul never wrote how thinking about all that is holy and good would be easy.

Oh, Lord, the evil in the world, the corruption of our “trusted” leaders, the degradation of our morals just keeps piling up. Add to this the growing hostility in society for Christ followers, and you can see how It’s much easier to complain.

Lord, as Christ followers, we’re gonna have trials and problems. Give us a fresh dose of your Spirit daily to help us keep our thoughts on your goodness and be assured you’ve got our backs in all circumstances.

Amen, Jesus.