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HELEN SANDERS
12-8-2021
EARNEST EXPECTATION
If the Apostle Paul were to write a resume for a job probably no one would hire him. It would include being stoned, shipwrecked, thrown into prison, beaten, death, betrayal by friends, and so much more. It would not look so good on a resume that you had been run out of town.
Yet, in Philippians 1:18-21 he says, “What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul knew that he had a death sentence for preaching the gospel. He knew that it would cost him his life, but it didn’t stop him. He earnestly expected the day when he would be with Jesus. Nothing deterred him from his mission, and that was to preach the gospel.
Very seldom does the church teach the actual price of preaching the gospel. If Paul is any example, we can expect to lose friends, family, perhaps be beaten, lied about, and go without the earthly pleasures that so many of us are accustomed to. Paul paid the price to write the epistles that give us the foundation for our Christian life. He knew that if the Lord was put to death for truth that he also would see death for a stand. Yet, that earnest expectation kept him going.
He asked the Lord to remove the “thorn in the flesh,” which were the Judaizers that tried to stop him everywhere he went, but God told him that “his grace was sufficient.” Paul was content in spite of his hardships knowing that God would give him grace to get through.
In the days that are coming on earth, we must also have that earnest expectation as we share Christ with a lost and dying world. It may cost us our lives also. It may cost us friends and family, but we must keep our eyes on Jesus, in spite of the hardships and loss, for a crown that awaits us for being faithful to the end. As Paul said in II Timothy 2:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Let us also have that earnest expectation!
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