by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
It is noteworthy that Paul had been in prison for two years in Caesarea, then had a terrible shipping mishap from Caesarea to Rome, and was under house arrest in Rome for two more years, but writes to the Philippian brethren to “rejoice in the Lord always<\/em>” (Philippians 4:4). He did not have time to feel sorry for himself. He did not want the brethren to feel sorry for him nor for them to fret about persecution and hardship because what we have in Christ is greater than the negatives that might get us down if we put the riches in Christ on the back burner. His thinking was that the excellence of the knowledge of Christ made everything else garbage to be thinking about. Christ should always be on the front burner, and all else as trivial things on the back burner.<\/p>\n To the Ephesians, Paul said that we may know what Paul knew (Ephesians 3:3-5) by reading what the Spirit had him write. In other words, we should always be able to rejoice in the Lord, keeping our wonderful spiritual blessings up front to dominate our outlook. We should be able to see life’s experiences like Paul did.\u00a0Make the other stuff garbage compared to the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and rejoice in the Lord always. It was doable for a man in prison and must be doable for us. It takes knowing what Paul knew, the great news of Jesus, and training to keep our focus, and then the morning sun dawns in us. As one Christian wrote in a song, “sweeter as the years go by” and “richer, fuller, deeper, Jesus’ love is sweeter, sweeter as the years go by.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton It is noteworthy that Paul had been in prison for two years in Caesarea, then had a terrible shipping mishap from Caesarea to Rome, and was under house arrest in Rome for two more years, but writes to the Philippian brethren to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). He did…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1287],"class_list":["post-67106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-joy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68279,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/this-will-turn-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":0},"title":"This Will Turn Out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ\" (Philippians 1:19). He had a mob of angry Jews trying to kill him in Jerusalem and in route to Caesarea, was kept in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-prosperous-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":1},"title":"A Prosperous Journey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Walton Weaver via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0Vol. XLIV: 10 p19 May 18, 2000 Paul had a great desire to go to Rome. He knew however that if such an opportunity presented itself, God would have to open up the way. His prayer that God might do this for him is given to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67201,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/time-to-reflect\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":2},"title":"Time to Reflect","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If you are bored, you are not studying and thinking about the rich treasures available to be enjoyed in Christ. When Paul and Silas were in prison, do you think they had time to be bored? Reflect on what gives you purpose and drive. Do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6914,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-say-he-left-titus-in-crete\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":3},"title":"Why did Paul say he left Titus in Crete?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just discovered your website after searching the Internet for \u201cPaul\u2019s letter to the Laodiceans\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Your explanation\u00a0is very interesting and has merit.\u00a0 Thank you for providing answers to so many questions that arise from time to time. Now that I think about it, I have a question:\u00a0 How do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-greater-progress-of-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":4},"title":"The Greater Progress of the Gospel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One of the highlights of Paul's attitude is that he was always more concerned for the spread of the gospel than for his own personal agenda or safety. He was willing to die for the Lord if it meant that the gospel would be proclaimed and more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Paul-in-Prison-300x207.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jamaica-patois-wisdom-attitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":67106,"position":5},"title":"Jamaica Patois Wisdom – Attitude","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique, and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought-provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Joe.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}