Day 11 When life gives you Lemons ….. (No. 2)

Please read Philippians 1:15-18

In his book of stories, "See You At The House," Pastor Bob Benson writes about Bill who had a heart attack almost died. As Bill was recovering Pastor Bob visited him and the conversation went like this -

Bob, "Bill, how do you feel about your heart attack?'

Bill, ‘I hate it. It nearly killed me.'"

Bob, "Would you like to have another one?"

Bill, "Certainly not!"  

Bob, "Would you recommend it for someone else?"

Bill, "Absolutely not."

Bob,  "Bill, now that you're feeling better, do you treasure your life more than before?"

Bill, "Yes, I guess I do."

Bob, "You and your wife have always had a good solid marriage, but are you closer to each other now than before?"

Bill, "Yes"  

Bob, "And what about your relationship with God? Has that changed since your heart attack?"

Bill, "Yes, I feel a whole lot closer to God now than I ever did before."

Finally, Bob asked "Bill, in the light of all this, how do you feel about your heart attack now?” driving home the point that God, at times, takes our most adverse situations and makes them positive. But the problem is most believers tend to dwell on the negative and lose sight of the positive. So we can say there are two groups of people - one group that dwells on the negative and one (smaller) group that sees “goodness and mercy following them all the days of their lives.” (Psalm 23:6)

 Apostle Paul belongs to the second group. In Philippians 1:12-14, Paul writes that his incarceration has served to advance the Gospel (please see day 7). This should never surprise us because our Almighty God is in control of everything and His Gospel will progress as He wishes. 

Coming to verse 15-18, Paul writes how his friends preach Christ out of goodwill and in love, emboldened and motivated by Paul’s imprisonment. This type of witness and teaching is the norm and is expected. But then he writes about his rivals who also preach Christ out of envy, rivalry, selfish ambition, not sincerely so that they can stir up trouble for Paul.   For that Paul writes, “I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.”

Dear brother and sister in Christ, as you read this I do not know who you are or where you are – but the truth is Jesus knows you and knows you intimately. Do you feel you are chained and burdened as you read this?   Are you shackled to isolation, grief, or gloom? Do you feel chained to an imperfect body, job, spouse or life? Are you immobilized by declining health?  All I can say is -take time to look at your circumstances, and focus more and more on the positive because Jesus died and rose for you and His Spirit is in you. Above all, because of Jesus,  you have a wonderful and glorious future awaiting you. It may not seem like that right now but one day you will be with Jesus just like him (Philippians 3:20-21).

Dear Jesus I know you are holding my hand, but I tend to forget that most of the time. Occasionally give my hand a painful squeeze to remind me that my hand is firmly in your grasp. Thank you and Amen.