Sunday 21 Sep 2014

September 21: Philippians 1:19-26

Key Verse: Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Devotion:
What sort of life do you think you have? Do you feel like it is wonderful and that nothing will get you down, or do you get really fed up with some of the things others get up to? If we are honest we would probably be more like the latter as we struggle with this world. When we profess to be followers of Christ we get even more uphill from the people around us and more aggravation from the people who object to what we do. This is what Paul was weighing up here in his mind; should he have to put up with all the aggravation or should he give in and go to be with Christ in heaven where there will be no more aggravation?

But it is not as simple as that because there are other people involved with this besides just us and Christ. We have all the people that will listen to what we say. All the people that will be encouraged through what we do and say. All the people who may well hear the Gospel for the first time because we dare to say something! These are the people God has placed us here to reach, not just the ones that are already destined for heaven but those other people who do not yet know Christ.

The more that we are able to live our mortal lives the more we should be able to achieve and the more people we should be able to introduce to Christ. This is assuming that we are going to get up and do something about it instead of just talking about doing things! God wants us to be doers of the word which means taking what we know and love and sharing it with other people just as it was shared with us in the beginning.

We should have a desire to go and be with God which is far more preferable than staying here and putting up with other people… but our work is given us by God and not just a choice we make. We are given the choice as to whether we want to follow Christ and obey His commands, and it is far better that we do obey for therein is the best and most fruitful destination. We will end up in heaven still, but it will be with more people by our side when we obey Christ!

Points to Ponder:
Are you getting aggravation?

Are you willing to put up with them for Christ’s sake?