Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”
Our Bible verse for today: “… I have learned to be content in whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “We can have joy and contentment as we persevere.”
The danger in focusing on a subject like “perseverance” everyday for an entire month is that we can quickly come to the point of feeling as if we are just trudging through life, stooped shoulders, leaning into it, determined and relentless, but also joyless.
If that’s the way we’re approaching this then we’re missing something vital to the Christian faith, and that would be joy. It is possible, indeed it is vital, that we experience some amount of peace and contentment and joy, even while dealing with trials and pains and heartaches.
Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians as an old man, sitting in a Roman jail, and probably awaiting execution. Not nice circumstances. And yet he had contentment and peace. Philippians is such a joyful and upbeat letter that it is actually known as “The Epistle of Joy.”
It was all a matter of perspective for Paul. Regardless of his circumstances, he had his eyes on Jesus and his mind on heaven. He viewed the world, and his personal circumstance in the world, through a Biblical worldview. Here’s how he described it in Romans 8:35-39:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Nothing can separate us from Him. Not even the most difficult of times. That’s what Paul was experiencing as he sat in that jail cell.
The key to hanging onto a sense of peace and contentment and even joy while persevering through tough times is revealed by Paul in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” The harder life is the more you need Jesus. Don’t pull away from Him. This is the time to draw even closer.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 