May 11

Philippians 1:4–5 (NIV)
4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

I stopped and pondered this and it made such sense. It is easy to pray with joy for people who are partnered with you. Since my life is about advancing the gospel, I am always looking for partners – people who would put their hand to the plow next to me and plow the same field together. It is easy to pray for them AND when you think about them, you smile. How beautiful that is.


Philippians 1:15–18 (NIV)
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

Paul has a very different view than many people in our society today. In fact, entire ministries that I am sure number in the hundreds (just search on the internet for a controversial minister and see all the junk) are dedicated to expose people who minister out of false motives, (or at least they are judged from someone who doesn’t know them at all to be doing that). I can hear the excuses flying right now by those who love or are interested in the deriding of ministers who are not heretical, but say things or do things or have things that others have deemed inappropriate. We shoot our wounded and we shoot our people who are just trying to do their best, and we shoot those who preach out of selfish ambition. What did Paul say under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? “What does it matter…Christ is preached?” Isn’t that kind of dangerous?