Street Cred

I want to stay with Paul in Philippians, because I think it's important to understand how he was using his imprisonments as an advantage to further the message of Christ.

In the same letter, Paul writes that our trials and suffering will bring us to a better understanding of God's love and grace. It's like we're building street cred in Christ. For our testimony to have credibility, it certainly helps when we've been there and done that.

It's hard to follow someone who's never been there.

This is true in most areas of life. You wouldn't take flying lessons from someone who's never been in the cockpit. So why would we trust anyone telling us how to walk through suffering who hasn't actually walked through it?

Paul did. From a Roman prison cell, he wrote about courage. About not being frightened by what stands against us. About standing firm.

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"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ... standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents."

Philippians 1:27-28

Read that again. Not frightened in anything.

What do we really need to be afraid of when we are in Christ? Paul knocks it out of the park here. Standing firm in faith is how we keep from getting knocked down by what we're up against. It's our shield. It's our armor.

And the credibility we build by standing firm, that's street cred only the people who've been in the valley can earn.

Be Nice. Grace Wins.

FMJ