Re:Verse passage – Philippians 1:27-30 (day four)
Suffering is something most of us go to great lengths to avoid. There is nothing enjoyable or exciting about suffering. “The words pain, uncomfortable, and avoidable come to mind. Yet, in verse 29, Paul says it has been ‘granted’ to you for Christ’s sake. ‘Granted’ carries the connotation of a reward, an honor, a gift, or ‘bestowed upon with preference.’
Suffering, for Paul, was not to be avoided. He took it in stride as an opportunity to reveal God’s grace or deliverance, or glory. Paul saw every activity of life to be an open door to share the gospel. How many doors were open to him to share the gospel through his suffering? How many people came to know Christ because Paul witnessed to them through his suffering?
Are you on the search? Do you view all of life as an opportunity to magnify God and give witness to His atonement? The world needs to see the grace of God lived out in your life!
Thank you, Larry, as your thoughts on these verses particularly spoke to my heart this morning . I am reflecting on how both a major spine surgery of soon to be 3 hrs ago has and is affecting the current physical healing of a broken leg while under Covid‘s restrictions. I continue to experience how so many opportunities to speak the love & faithfulness of Christ are being vouchsafed to me through these hardships. To God be the glory that he would use this broken vessel to honor Jesus Christ.
The call to help others along a path of shared suffering is the point of our Heart 2 Heart ministry. Only by experiencing loss can someone begin to understand others’ losses. Jesus modeled this by walking through this broken world in a fragile human body; He knows how we feel. Hallelujah—what a Savior!