Gifts:
Prized and Despised
The Philippians were given a double-barrelled gift. He speaks of the trouble they're going through (1:28) and he wants to put it in the right context. So in 1:29-30 he makes this astonishing claim: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."He says it has been "granted" to them. This isn't the language of mere "allowance" and still less is it the language of "luck". The Greek verb is echaristhe, which has the word "charis" at its heart. "Charis" is the word we usually translate grace. Can you imagine that? It has been given to them as a gift not only to believe on Christ but also to suffer for his sake.
How pleased we are to hear that God has been gracious to them in their coming to believe in Jesus Christ. This gift of faith isn't forced on anyone since it wouldn't then be a gift but Paul's claim is plain enough, the faith the Philippians had in Christ didn't come to them by willing it or earning it or creating it. It came as God's gracious gift. Who wouldn't be pleased?
But the gift that came with their faith was the gracious gift of a difficult life. This privilege and grace came from God! Paul knew that it came via the hands of their enemies but he insisted that they were simply carrying God's gift to the Philippians. Their enemies meant it for evil and God meant it for good. The Philippian pain and loss was a gift from God for redemptive purposes.
Can pain and loss be a "gift from God" to us as well? And if he sends a gift in strange and ominous hands, but clearly marked, "To you, from God," should we refuse it and mark it, "Return to sender"?
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
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