Hope

For Christ’s Sake

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. – Philippians 1:12-13

Life rarely goes as we have planned it. No matter how prescient we may be, or how fortuitous our lot, still things happen that we did not anticipate. When these unexpected road bumps are good, we rarely complain. When they are bad, our cries of foul play are readily heard.

Paul seemed to have a different view. As indicated above, he spent some time in prison. In fact, Paul was in prison on numerous occasions, not for some treacherous deed but for saying things that the religious and political leaders rather he didn’t. Many of the letters that we have from Paul were written while he was in jail. It’s not too far a stretch to say that Paul may have had the very first prison ministry – and that his stocks and chains were his primary pulpit.

Paul’s concern, however, wasn’t for the injustice of his imprisonment. When he viewed his time in jail, he was able to count it as a success for it “served to advance the Gospel.” All that happened to Paul was put through this filter. And it wasn’t just believers that noticed. As he states in the passage above “it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.” Even those that did not serve God, knew it was for His sake that Paul suffered, and by this testimony Christ was revealed.

Let the same be true in our lives. Let others look at us and say everything that happens to them, every hurdle, every obstacle, every slight, every perceived injury, is for the sake of Christ. And through this testimony, through lives sacrificed to the One who sacrificed His life, may the Gospel be made known, that they too may give it all, for Christ’s sake.

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Hope

Power of Hope


It was recently announced that President Obama was this year’s recipient of the Noble Peace Prize. While this is quite an accomplishment, it was a surprise to many, including it seems to the President itself. As an Associated Press article that was written prior to the announcement stated, “U.S. President Barack Obama is thought to have been nominated but it’s unclear on what grounds.” (H/T John Miller). Upon the prize being awarded, many pundits speculated that it was bestowed mostly for the hope of what President Obama would achieve, rather than his actual accomplishments. (A prime reason for this speculation was that the nomination period for the Noble Peace Prize closed February 1, 2009 – only eleven days after President Obama had been in office.)

Now regardless of one’s opinion as to the worthiness of this selection, it’s easy to understand the motivation that hope can provide. Read Facebook statuses for a day and you’ll see this manifest itself many times over. People hope for a good day, a good job, and a good life. People express hope for a thousand things that they want that are seemingly possible to achieve. People want to believe in something greater than themselves and believe that their future will be bright. We want things to be different than they are and hope is the manifestation of this desire.

The rarely acknowledged, but astonishingly wonderful truth for Christians is that we have the greatest propellant for hope known to man. After all, our hope is not in a prize, or even in Earthly standards of determination, but in hope of eternity. We live with the confidence that when everything in this world returns to dust, we will be at our eternal home where there will be no need for a Nobel Peace Prize for the Prince of Peace will reign.

Let us not grow weary in hanging on to this hope. Better yet, let us make sure that we share in with others. It’s only through doing so that we can be assured that their hope will also be rooted in eternity…and that they will know truly noble peace (Romans 15:13).

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