dev197 - Evening Chains

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”

Philippians 1:12-14

Verses like the one above show me why I need to read the Bible daily. I don’t normally wake up in the morning or go to bed at night thinking thoughts like Paul expresses here. In the mornings I am usually trying to decide if I have anything to look forward to that day, and in the evening I go to bed either content or disappointed with how that day met my expectations. In both times, my mind unconsciously goes to selfish things.

But what if I woke up one day with a certain set of expectations and found myself going to bed in prison, having been put there only because of my faith? My hopeful aspirations for the day would not have included chains around my ankles, so I wonder about the state of my attitude upon finding myself in such a predicament. Given the status of my selfish desires for the day, chains would be a very disappointing way to end it. Not only would I not have done good work in my job, had coffee with a friend or found a date for the weekend, I would have also found my liberties taken away. I would have seen that day as a failure, and would have to resign myself to the fact that the coming days would also fail to satisfy the desires I had for that day.

This is the case, of course, because I would have failed to line up my desires with the will of God. The things I gravitate toward in the morning must be derailed into a more gospel-driven set of hopes. For Paul, with his relentless kingdom focus, was thrilled by the events of the day that led him into prison. His chains did not represent unfulfilled hopes for his day; they represented fulfilled hopes, as they served to advance the gospel.

You will not be able to rejoice in your sufferings if your hopes do not center in the gospel. If your hopes are centered in preventing your suffering and difficulties, then you will often find yourself going to bed disappointed. Yet the glory of the gospel is that in Christ even suffering cannot transform your hope to despair. In fact, the gospel teaches that quite the opposite is true. Suffering leads to perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

But this is not just any hope. It is a crucified hope. It is a hope in seeing God’s glory manifested in the nations. It is a hope founded on the resurrected Christ and being made right with God in Him. It is a hope that despises the things I naturally gravitate towards upon the sounding of my morning alarm clock. It is an eternal hope.

Perhaps we all go to bed with a certain kind of chains. Make sure your chains are chains that were put there because of the gospel. If that is the case, I think you will find it easy to go to bed rejoicing.