Adversity

"So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I'm going to keep that celebration going because I know how it's going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose" Philippians 1:18-21 (The Message)

        Beaten badly on numerous occasions Paul persisted in preaching Christ to others. Imprisoned without a cause he continued to preach Christ. Shipwrecked. Snake bit. Scourged. Slandered. He maintained his resolve to preach Christ. Why? Paul had the right perspective in handling adversity.

        In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul shocks the world by how he views his consistent toil in life. He writes, "For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!]," (2 Corinthians 4:17) For Paul it was all about perspective. In the midst of the "light and momentary affliction" of a jail cell, he'd have a perfect chance to witness to the prisoners and the guards. In the midst of a slanderous trial, he sees an opportunity to proclaim Christ to the general counsel. The very ones accusing him of blasphemy. Paul consistently saw his trials as opportunities not adversities, and consistently preached Christ through it all.

        Paul was so concerned for others in the midst of his adversities that he really take time to think of himself. Sounds just like Jesus. On that old rugged cross, Jesus looks down to John (who is beside Mary his mother) and says to him "Here is your mother." (John 19:27) Taking care of the needs of Mary and not even focusing on the grueling pain He was enduring.

        Adversity wants to punch you in the gut and take you out. However, it is up to you how you will respond to it. Will you let it overcome you as you become inwardly focused? Or will you overcome it by looking for opportunities to be outwardly focused like Jesus and Paul consistently did? In all situations remember this... it is better to give than to receive. This is how we show the world the depth of the love of Christ in us, that is available to them.