Chained But Free

Philippians 1:12 And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear. 15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

Paul was chained to the Good News and all those who preached the message he had shared with them realized that his preaching was with the right motives. Have you ever had anyone question your motives? When that happens it throws me into a tailspin that i don't like. Paul had no other motive, but glorifying Jesus, and he had given his whole life to one thing. Share the Gospel message. When you commit your whole life to something your tenure in doing it should speak for itself. Sometimes even your commitment to that one thing can be misunderstood and that is apparently what was happening with those who were questioning Paul's motives. Paul's imprisonment in the gospel was proof of his pure motives in what he was doing and it caused jealousy from those who were not pure in their motives, so they lashed out at Paul.

Paul's deliverance from the chains of preaching the gospel was going to be the souls who were won to Christ, and little by little those chains were dissolving as he continued to preach and win many more to Jesus. The following verses in Philippians 1 say a lot. Philippians 1: 20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sake, it is better that I continue to live. 25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.

Paul's life is centered on preaching the message of Christ and what happens is there is more and more of Jesus in the message than him, and his realization is that he wants to be totally Jesus in lifestyle and message. His life is Jesus and he is Chained, but in those chains is his freedom. He is Chained But Free!! May we be so in love with Jesus and so in tuned with His presence that we acknowledge our very life is all about Him! Such a wonderful goal and such beautiful chains.

The Pilgrimage Continues

David Warren