At my church we're going through a series on the new testament book, Phillipians. I thought I might share some of my personal journey through it with the blogosphere.
This book, as Eugene Peterson says, is Paul's happiest letter. The first thing that catches me in Paul's words is his faith that bubbles over into joy.
I absolutely love this guy. He was a learned, well-educated Jew (when it was the in thing) and an upper-class citizen of Rome (when it was the in thing) who threw all of that away and is now writing from a prison cell. He just can't keep these narrated letters in order, despite all that learning in logic, he gets swept away - in all his letters - with the gospel. This mind-blowing message. All his points seem jumbled up but they are far from difficult to read. They are dripping with the juice that is the Holy Spirit, any discussions on his revelations will, I'm sure, only scrape the surface of their profound meaning for the deepest parts of our lives: our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves and our relationships with the people around us.
This is Paul imprisoned. I wonder if he was confused - up to this point he'd been travelling the world, changing lives everywhere by sharing the good news with any and everyone. And yet now he is in chains? He kept His faith in God's will, believing being in prison was want God wanted of him. He kept his joy. Little did he know that his confinement led to the blessing of generations and generations of Christians to be. Because he kept his joy and desire to share and wrote this letter without moping around.
If it weren't for that prison, we wouldn't have these chapters.
If we keep faith, how many prisons in our lives will God use beyond our wildest hopes!
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