Stick or twist? Stay or go?

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. | Philippians 1: 21 (NLT)

Paul’s uncertainties and certainties.

As Paul writes to the Philippians, though there’s some uncertainty as to exactly what his situation was, he’s probably in prison. He makes several references to imprisonment and being in chains, but also to his life and death, which would suggest that, whatever his situation, it was indeed uncertain.

I don’t know what your particular uncertainties may be, nor to what degree they may threaten your liberty, but let’s be honest, uncertainty is something we are all facing and have always faced.

However much we may fret about things, we are not in control, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6: 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? as he encourages us not to worry, but to trust in the certainty of the Father and to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

As you look back on the past two years and all that is going on in the world at the moment, I’m sure that you find yourself wondering what the next two years may bring?

Here’s the challenge. Does the uncertainty of it cause you to fear, or at the very least, become anxious, or are you able to join Paul in saying, as The Message translates it,

Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

Paul saw his uncertainties as opportunities to trust God and to share with others the glorious gospel of Christ, sure in the knowledge that, though living for Christ was great, what was to come would be greater still.

Earlier in Philippians 1, Paul says, “whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me”. Let’s keep reminding one another that, however uncertain our situation, we share in the same absolute certainty of what is ours by the amazing grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, in this life and in death.