Technicolor Joy: A Seven-Day Devotional by Skip HeitzigMfano

Fill in the Blanks

Few of us have encountered circumstances as difficult as those the apostle Paul lived through, and yet, in the midst of them—from a Roman prison cell, in fact—he wrote to the church at Philippi about the compelling, outrageous joy he had. Now, it's important to understand from the get-go that joy is different from happiness. Happiness increases or decreases depending on your situation. Joy is pervasive and deep and constant—even when things aren't going your way—and it's rooted in the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul is a testament to this fact. Even though the circumstances of his life were often out of control, he had a singular focus: Jesus. That's what gave him such joy.

He wrote in the first chapter of Philippians, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). That was essentially his life motto. Can you summarize your life in one sentence like he did? What words would you use to fill in those blanks: "For me, to live is   , and to die is   "? If you say to live is wealth, then death doesn't bring gain—it brings loss. If you fill in the first blank with power or prestige, then the moment you die, you've lost everything. If you live for the perfect physique, then death is certainly not gain—your body will rapidly begin to decay.

In all these things, the saying is true: you can't take it with you. But for Paul, "the furtherance of the gospel" (v. 12) was his reason for living, and thus how he could say to die is gain, for then he would "depart and be with Christ" (v. 23).

I heard about a little boy who went to Sunday school for the very first time. Afterwards, his mom asked, "What did you learn? What was your teacher like?" The child said, "I can't remember the lesson, but the teacher must have been Jesus' grandma, because she couldn't talk about anybody else."

Read any of Paul's letters and you'll find that Jesus was almost the only person he talked about. He determined, "If I live, I'm living for Christ, and if I die, I'll be living with Christ. There's life in either equation." Paul believed Jesus when He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25). Do you believe?