“Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice.”

Philippians 1:15-18

The Apostle Paul faced two major problems while writing the letter to the church at Philippi. First, he was in prison. Most believe he was under house arrest. He was allowed visitors and was allowed to write letters. But his freedom was limited. The second problem was that there were obviously those who were trying to stir up trouble for him while he was in prison.

It’s at this point where we might ask ourselves, “So we think we have problems?” Of course, the answer to that question is yes. We most certainly do have problems and obstacles in our lives.

But it’s likely that our problems are different from Paul’s problems. He was imprisoned several times, all resulting from his passion to advance the cause of Christ. Last I checked, no one has been put in jail near where I live for preaching about Jesus.

What always impresses me when I read Philippians is how Paul chose to face his problems. If he thought the cause of Christ was being advanced, that was good enough for him. He was content and was even able to rejoice in spite of his difficult circumstances.

I do not intend to minimize any problems that we encounter. There’s some rough stuff out there. But I also need to ask myself, “How often am I aware of whether the cause of Christ is being advanced in my life or the life of the church?” And can the cause of Christ be advanced in spite of the difficulties that come my way?

Paul made a choice to rejoice. What do we choose? It’s something to think about.