The Reason by Gary Rose

Much to my surprise our congregation recently stopped studying “The last week of Jesus” and began the study of the book of Philippians. At first I couldn’t understand “WHY”? Then it dawned on me- our congregation needed this study. You see- during the summer in Florida many of us travel and our numbers dwindle to a select few. People look around and when they don’t see as many of us as normal there is a natural tendency to be discouraged. And the proper medicine for this is… - Philippians, of course. A book written during Roman imprisonment; a book of joy. Paul writes…

Philippians 1 ( World English Bible )

  ¹²  Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News;  ¹³ so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ;  ¹⁴ and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.  ¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.  ¹⁶ The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains;  ¹⁷ but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News. 

  ¹⁸  What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice.  ¹⁹ For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,  ²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.  ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

Face it, we all have bad days. Days when nothing seems to go “right”, there seems no point in going on and the whole world seems to be a horrible place. Yet, amid this depressing scenario, if we step back and look at the larger view of things, quite often we can see a guiding light of encouragement. And that encouragement is in Jesus who is called The Christ. He gives us hope and life and encouragement because he is LORD of all. Like Paul we can overcome any bad day by remembering The LORD will overcome any obstacle because HE is LORD and we are but servants doing HIS BIDDING.

Having a bad day?

If your heart is in the right place (devoted to Jesus), God will eventually work everything out. Believe this, for it is true!