Paul an example of Perseverance for today’s society

MP900443444 Paul faced as many hardships in the first century as any of us could face in the twenty-first century. He faced some of the similar struggles we deal with today, homelessness, hunger, joblessness, depression, poverty, and spiritual persecution.
His life and letters teach us a lot about how to deal with today’s issues. I will focus on five areas in this blog.
First, he showed us how to deal with today’s physical challenges. He was flogged five times (thirty-nine lashes), three times beaten by a rod, three times shipwrecked, stoned with large rocks, attacked by bandits, imprisoned several times, blinded, and disowned by his family, friends, neighbors, congregation, and race.
He overcame these physical struggles through his frame of mind and faith in the Lord. We need to emulate Paul’s attitude. When Paul was in Rome, he was chained to the Praetorian Guard, the elitist Roman soldiers, twenty-four/seven in his dark, damp cell. Paul’s attitude helped him persevere, he felt like the Praetorian guards were chained to him and not him chained to them. Like Paul we should look at the positive not the negative.
Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, “As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace, guard and to everyone else, that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
Second, Paul’s focus in his life is where we should put our gaze. In today’s culture we should focus on the future not the present. He didn’t dwell on his beatings, prison sentences, lack of food, and afflictions, but what laid ahead. He knew that whatever happened in the present would be used for God’s glory in the future. Paul also understood that God knows what is best for us, since He knows the future.
Being focused on the future is difficult. It’s so easy for this sinful world to influence our choices and behavior. Over time we can begin to find the secular ways of this world a little more desirable and acceptable. We become friends with the activities that God despises. Maybe we should pause during this holiday season and ask ourselves, ‘Is my attitude toward pride, money, and selfishness similar to the attitudes of this world?’
Third, he focused on the eternal not the temporal. Temporal is anything bound by time; money, technology, car, body, and etc. These things don’t last forever. Eternal, last forever; God’s inherence, promise, hope, judgment. We need to train our eyes to see the difference in today’s society.
Fourth, Paul focused on the spiritual not the physical. He knew our outer bodies are like clay pots, fragile. While our inner bodies are like heaven, aeonian. He knew in the first and twenty-first century our inner being, soul, can be renewed every day through faith in the Lord.

Fifth, suffering shapes us. If we have pain or discomfort for more than three hours in our culture, we try to get rid of it. We will do anything to avoid pain. But suffering is what enables us to slow down and reflect upon ourselves in this non-stop, stimulus world we reside in. We need to make faith part of our daily lives so when struggles come we have the foundation to overcome them.

Categories: Agent of Changes

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