For This Reason
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
Eph 3:1
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For This Reason
Why does Paul to what he does? Why would any persecuted Christian continue to do the very thing that brings them pain and suffering? After all, Paul was arrested in 58 AD to protect him from a Jewish mob in the temple. He would spend a year and a half in prison in Caesarea and two years under house arrest in Rome. For what? For the reason of the Gospel. Paul preaches the unity of all, Jew and Gentil alike, in the body of Christ, the church. The truth of the Gospel is worth all the pain and suffering. Paul rejoiced to be put on trial for the sake of the Gospel, hoping to gain legal freedom to preach it to all the Gentiles. He referred to his suffering more than once but qualified it as fulfilling the Lord’s purposes for his life and others. And when we look to the cross, when we see the lengths our Lord would go to, the pain and abuse He would suffer, then we too can find strength in the cross. May our Lord Jesus continue to give us the strength to endure all that the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh throw at us, and in the end rejoice in the victory of the cross.
Eph 3:1
+
For This Reason
Why does Paul to what he does? Why would any persecuted Christian continue to do the very thing that brings them pain and suffering? After all, Paul was arrested in 58 AD to protect him from a Jewish mob in the temple. He would spend a year and a half in prison in Caesarea and two years under house arrest in Rome. For what? For the reason of the Gospel. Paul preaches the unity of all, Jew and Gentil alike, in the body of Christ, the church. The truth of the Gospel is worth all the pain and suffering. Paul rejoiced to be put on trial for the sake of the Gospel, hoping to gain legal freedom to preach it to all the Gentiles. He referred to his suffering more than once but qualified it as fulfilling the Lord’s purposes for his life and others. And when we look to the cross, when we see the lengths our Lord would go to, the pain and abuse He would suffer, then we too can find strength in the cross. May our Lord Jesus continue to give us the strength to endure all that the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh throw at us, and in the end rejoice in the victory of the cross.
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