Technicolor Joy: A Seven-Day Devotional by Skip HeitzigMfano

Inconvenient Imprisonments

Paul—the maverick, free-as-a-bird, entrepreneurial evangelist—was caged. Stuck in a Roman prison, he couldn't go out and plant churches. He wasn't free to visit the churches he had already planted. He couldn't even disciple people as he once did. Prison guards constrained his every move. But the joy Jesus gave him enabled him to see his suffering in a new way, full of hope and possibility.

Paul recognized that things were turning out according to God's best, and he told the Philippians as much: "I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel" (Philippians 1:12). Note the words he opened with: "I want you to know." Paul was laying out an important truth, and he wanted no misunderstanding over what he was saying.

The Christians in Philippi probably saw Paul's imprisonment as one of the worst things that could've happened. "No! They've arrested Paul and he's in prison in Rome. This is horrible." But Paul wanted them to know that all was not lost. What appeared to be black and white to everyone else was infused for Paul with God's colorful hope.

The outwardly terrible situation ended up being a good thing: this particular prison experience resulted in some of Paul's most fruitful years of ministry. He reached Roman soldiers, touched the city of Rome, and emboldened the church through the letters he wrote. Paul's cell became a fulcrum with which he moved his whole world. And he had joy through it all because his passion was the gospel.

What about you? When you're limited, restricted, or your plans are cut short, how do you react? Do you smile and accept your lot? Or do you grumble and complain, "God, why did You let this happen?" No one likes confinement. Nobody likes limitations. But life is full of inconvenient imprisonments, some small and others not so small.

Maybe you feel chained to a job. Perhaps an unhealthy relationship shackles you. You might feel handcuffed to responsibilities—you're at a point where caring for someone else takes all your time and energy. Are you tempted to see yourself as a victim? Do you say things like, "Where's the joy? I'm not fulfilling my passion in life."

Christian writer Louis Évely said, "God speaks to us...through the regularity with which he disappoints our plans." So how about viewing your circumstances the same way Paul saw his? Can you further the gospel through your job, your relationship, or whatever you feel is imprisoning you? The very thing that holds you captive might set someone else free.