You may not be locked up, but you have been in lockdown. When life’s circumstances, like we have been experiencing worldwide, revamps our normal activity, it almost sounds like the prison doors have closed on us. We are looking for ways to escape the confinement and run for freedom.
I remember back many years ago as I went into a prison to visit someone. Hearing the sound of the heavy door slamming closed gave me an eerie and claustrophobic feeling. When it was time for me to leave, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness when I felt the sun on my face and heard the sputtering sounds of traffic around me.
Paul wrote thirteen epistles, four of which were written while he was under house arrest in Rome. We learn from Paul that our physical circumstances do not determine our position nor our authority in God’s kingdom. Paul was adept and “locked in” on having his life continue to impact the lives of believers he was leading. In spite of his challenging times, this leader of the first generation of Christians trusted God to work everything out for his good and for the good of all believers.
You may be an educator determined to teach your students well, or a doctor caring for suffering patients, or a parent with children struggling to live with hope for a happy future. Like many of us, you have had to be unshakeable in pressing forward day after day, knowing God is with us in this challenging journey.
Throughout this year God has been faithfully building us up on the inside. We are demonstrating hope, peace and freedom in the midst of apparent confinement. Internal confidence helps us remain flexible when others are fracturing or languishing around us. Your life is impacting others. May Paul’s words encourage you today. “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)
As we slam the door shut on the year 2020 our prayer is that you would be “locked in” and determined to have your life continue to powerfully impact those around you and that your intimacy with God would grow deeper and fuller than ever. God bless you and Merry Christmas.
Photo by Mark Mintel @unsplash.com
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