Philippian Bits – 1:14

For this series in Philippians, I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1:14   And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

In our last verse we considered the effect Paul had on the imperial guards, while in this verse we are considering Paul’s impact on the brothers, at least on most of them. Seeing Paul react to his imprisonment with joy and focused on the advancement of the gospel, lit the brothers up also.

I was in a class this morning where a brother spoke passionately, and with great volume and force, of our responsibility to evangelize, that it is incumbent on all believers to evangelize, and if you don’t shame on you (to be fair, he didn’t say it – I just felt it!)

While I wholeheartedly agree, I don’t remember a time when he brought someone to church, asked for prayer for someone he shared Christ with, or exhibited any burden to reach out in a ministry to the lost. Granted, I am guilty in many ways also. In my past, I used to do bunches of neighborhood evangelism, and occasionally share the gospel with others I rub shoulders with, but my passion has dwindled. I have grown cold and need to straighten up.

With all that being said, my point in speaking of this is to share that Paul may have never taught the brothers the Romans road, or provided the four spiritual laws tract to distribute. But the brothers caught a glimpse of Jesus in Paul, realized that the imprisonment of Paul was beneficial, and caught a wiff of the joy exuding from Paul. It was contagious, not due to teaching, but to the focus of Paul’s life.

The brothers “caught” what couldn’t be taught. Paul’s example led the way.

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