Php 1:1-30 (NLT)
1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons.
2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.
4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy,
5 for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
7 So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News.
8 God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.
10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
12 And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.
13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.
14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives.
16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News.
17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.
18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.
24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.
26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.
29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
For the sake of the Gospel, challenges are taken on with joy. It’s not to a place of bliss on this earth that is run to, one that is free of any hardship, but one that is ensconced in the will of God and fulfillment of His plan and purpose for our lives. For Paul, this was an incarceration that would never be a included in the faith statement of the worldly minded and earth-bound. For him, though, it wasn’t his circumstances that he obtained his joy in living. His came from an eternal treasure that would proliferate far beyond his earthly experience. As his heart was wrapped around those to whom his revelation was shared, it was in their growth and matured development and his heart was lifted in unalterable gladness and reason for living. His life on this earth was far from whether or not he had material goods or even the accolades of man. It was Christ, and the His living through his life in everything he did. The only regret in dying would be the influence for Christ his physical presence could affect. This, though, is how his oblivion to his circumstances even transcended the power of death to effect that in the least. In the faithfulness to his calling to be in chains, his writings would transform not only the lives he had physically seen, but all of us who have been added to the treasure of his heart’s fulfillment.
In our walk with Christ, there is an incredible opportunity to discover a heart treasure that can never be taken in the currency of heaven we’ve been called to acquire. When the call of the kingdom is heeded with passion, any difficulties or adversities that the pathway encounters will be taken on with joy. Their discomfort will have no effect on the joy that is coming from an eternal investment. Those precious members of Christ’s body will displace all the trivialities of this life as our living becomes His living and our dying has no impact whatsoever on our choices. Here or there, it’s about Him in a joy that cannot be shaken by the necessity of adversity. Always conquering when fully following.