Lessons for Life

It might be hard to see what good can come out of being locked in your own home for weeks on end. If there are tensions and difficulties in the family, being stuck together can make things worse. On the other hand, you may really appreciate the extra time together and find things to be thankful for. It is really unusual for children to get so much time with their parents and, hopefully, with a bit of effort we will be able to build some happy memories with them during this time.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi he was in the middle of his own lockdown - he was in prison. He was probably chained to a Roman soldier, at least some of the time, and therefore unable to even move about freely. Paul was a man who travelled, a man of action, and he must have really felt the pain of this forced isolation. Nevertheless his letter is full of praise and thanksgiving. Even in his cell, he has found work to do for the Lord. So he wrote:

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has

really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known

throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my

imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having

become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more

bold to speak the word without fear.

He is locked in prison so that the Gospel of Eternal Life can come to the ears of some hardened Roman soldiers! And as the Christians followed his example and started preaching Christ to others the Gospel of Eternal Life spread even more. Even though some people were trying to discourage Paul and increase the affliction of his imprisonment, he was simply happy that:

"Christ is proclaim, and in that I rejoice"

Paul actually rejoiced in the sufferings and restraints that accompanied his gospel ministry. Comparing himself to some teachers who falsely claimed to be apostles, he wrote

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman

—with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless

beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the

Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once

I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was

adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from

robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger

in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 

in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst,

often without food, in cold and exposure.

Just as the gospel could extend through the restraints of his imprisonment, the power of God was demonstrated through the constraints of his weakness:

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the

power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am

content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong."

In the current situation we are very conscious of our weaknesses and restrictions. God may well use this to advance the gospel directly, showing His power through our powerlessness, as He did through Paul‘s imprisonment. But there are long term lessons here too: this is the way God always works as demonstrated in Paul’s whole life full of troubles and trials. We are learning about the vulnerability and brevity of life, the impotence of politics, the redundancy of many of the religious embellishments we add to church life, and the fruitlessness of so much of our busyness and activity. Perhaps God is teaching us lessons He wants us to take with us when ‘normal’ life resumes so that for the rest of our lives, we are marked by a lower view of ourselves and greater manifestation of the power of God.