God Can Use Even the Bad Stuff


Philippians 1:12-18
12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

In these few brief verses we really get a picture of the character of The Apostle Paul. Here we have a man who, while in prison, is able to see that God’s Kingdom is being advanced and God is using the very fact that Paul is suffering less than ideal circumstances to make that happen. Paul’s witness is so strong he is making a positive impact on the prison guards and that story is being spread throughout the area. Paul has become something of a news story among the guards and thus in the city.

Imagine that your Christian witness was so strong as to be the topic of discussion in the community. Imagine that your faith shined so brightly that those who did not yet know Christ could see that your life was different. An even more difficult imagination is to see that God can and will use even the toughest circumstances to shine forth with the truth of His Kingdom. Generally, I can only see that when I look back and see how things turned out after tough times. Paul is able to declare that God is at work while he is still imprisoned. I suspect that if we pay attention, we too would see God working far more often than we do.

Dear Lord God, I am so grateful that You are ever moving and shaping Your Kingdom in and through me. I’m sorry that sometimes I get distracted and don’t pay attention to what you are doing. Please open my eyes and my heart so that Your will is evident to me and help me share that great story with the people in my world. You are an awesome God and You do amazing things. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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