Everything Happens for a Reason

“But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”  Philippians 1:12-14

I might be wrong (so what else is new?), but I believe that everything happens for a reason.  We can’t always see the reason why certain events take place, and we may never know, even in eternity because everything that happened to us in this life will likely be forgotten or, if remembered, no longer will matter to us.  The only thing that will be worth remembering and will matter is our salvation.  I think that once believers close their eyes in death and instantly open them in the eternal state, it will be like we have been there forever because it is our home.  Like the lady in a recent movie I saw on television said, “Home, one of my favorite words.”

The Apostle Paul had endured many hardships in his travels to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with Gentiles and some Jews, as well.  In his letter to the church at Corinth, he listed several of these events:  He was beaten by the Jews five times with a whip, three times with a rod, once pelted with stones, shipwrecked three times, persecuted by the enemies of the gospel, was hungry, thirsty, and weatherworn (II Corinthians 11:24-27).  When he wrote this letter to the Philippians, he was locked up in Rome awaiting on an appeal to Caesar regarding his arrest for preaching the gospel.  Isn’t it funny (not funny, ha ha, but funny, strange), not only in his day, but even now, folks get in trouble for telling the truth?  However, tell lies and you are “scott free”.  This world is completely upside down just as scripture said it would be.  We can add jail time to the list of Paul’s troubles for doing nothing more than honoring Christ and obeying Him in preaching the gospel.  The good news is that his troubles did not stop the gospel from spreading.  Matter of fact, the gospel spread even further because of Paul’s incarceration.

We should all desire to have the courage, determination, and fortitude of Paul.  What stands out to me in this passage is that Paul’s fellow preachers were much bolder to preach the gospel because of Paul’s incarceration.  I would hope that threats of jail time or persecution by gospel-haters would not hinder me in witnessing about the forgiveness and joy of knowing Christ, but we never know exactly how we will react until faced with adversity.  We do know that God will be with us, and whatever occurs will not take Him by surprise, and He can use the results of our efforts to further His kingdom.  I would rather leave a legacy of one who obeyed God and promoted His kingdom that one who was too concerned about my own welfare.  Courage, determination, and love for others was the legacy of Paul which resulted in thousands of Gentiles and Jews who came to faith in Christ because of his obedience and the words of truth he left behind in his writings.  I don’t know what will happen to the things that I have written.  My blogs will likely be wiped clean, and all the spiral bound notebooks of notes that I have written will likely go into a dumpster.  My hope is that they would be used to further God’s kingdom after I have departed this earth.

Paul described some of the men who were made more confident to preach because of his troubles.  They were not all like Paul, though.  Some preached because they envied how God had used Paul and wanted to make names for themselves.  Some loved Paul and desired to emulate him, not out of envy, but to be soul winners like him, carrying on his work while he was imprisoned.  Others wanted to make him jealous.  Those men didn’t seem to have a real heart for winning people to Christ, but Paul was not upset about it.  He was glad that the gospel was being preached by many who may have otherwise not been spurred on to preach had he not been put into prison.

There is an old saying, “If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade”.  That sounds good but turning adversity into triumph is usually not possible without the help of the Lord.  Ancient Israel suffered much adversity, but there was a purpose in those hardships which led to the way of salvation for mankind.  The only way whereby men’s and women’s sins could be forgiven was by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  Paul stated that everything that happened to him was to make the gospel known throughout the world.  The things that happen to us believers are to build the kingdom of God even though we may not see the results in our lifetime.  It is tempting to try to analyze why things happen the way they do, but it is wise to accept them and trust that God can use our suffering and disappointments to fulfill His plans.  Whatever we go through, we should always pray that God gets glory from it.