May 6:
Living a Life that Matters…
Philippians 1:15-21
“It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out
of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do
it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love,
knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now
that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of
it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and
so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them.
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."
One of the most discouraging things I’ve seen in ministry is
when pastors view each other as competition. There is nothing more
disheartening than to hear them bash each other over minor theological differences,
preaching styles, modes of worship or battle over personality conflicts. Seriously?
We are brothers in arms! We shouldn’t get caught up in these trivial, temporal
things. Instead we should focus on what God has called us to do… to preach the
Gospel of Jesus & encourage each other in ministry. Everything we do is for
the glory of Christ Jesus not for the glory of self.
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