Daily Bible Verses For May

May 23: Philippians 1:29-30

"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have."

~Philippians 1:29-30

Comment:

In this verse today, Paul reminds the Philippians that being together in Christ comes with a price. Suffering and conflict. In today's time, when we read through Philippians and Paul's other letters, we might think that Paul had it easy in his time of imprisonment. Because of the kind of content he puts into his letters, we might think that he was happy to be suffering for Christ's sake. But the truth is, in reality, Paul's situation was absolutely revolting. Remember, he was beaten, whipped, arrested, and finally thrown into a stinking cell full of nasty, unsanitary things. There is even a verse in Philippians where he says that he wishes he could depart and be with Christ and get away from the hardships, but instead remains in the flesh for the sake of the Philippians.

But did all this suffering keep Paul quiet on the subject of his Lord and Savior? Nope. It only made his faith stronger. The more he trusted in Jesus, the more he was able to bear all the torture and even encourage others to stay strong in the faith. We would do well to follow this example. 

Our suffering in our current culture is nowhere near as bad as Paul's was. Now, grant it, torture like this does still happen in places, but in general, we usually don't experience imprisonment or lashings for believing in Christ. But here's the thing, we don't have to experience excessive torture in order to follow Christ. But we mustn't be complacent and become lazy. We must always remain vigilant and steadfast in our trust in God! W and e mustn't allow ourselves to be drawn into the world. We must always remain close to our Creator!

~Lily