Text: Philippians 4:4-23
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” —Philippians 4:13
There was a blind boy that lived in New York City. Every day the blind boy would sit in Central Park with a can and a sign that read: “I am blind, anything helps.”
One day, a man walked by the boy on his lunch break and realized there was hardly any money in the boy’s can. So, he took the boy’s sign, flipped it over, and wrote something on it. He gave it back to the boy, now with a different message. Within an hour, the boy’s can was overflowing with money. Later that day the man returned. The boy, recognizing his footsteps said, “Thank you sir, but what did you write on my sign?” The man replied, “Just the truth. I wrote the same thing you did, just worded a bit differently.”
The new message on the boy’s sign was: “Today is a beautiful day but I can’t see it.”
The second message was more powerful than the first because it made people see how fortunate they are and gave them a prompt to be grateful for something they would usually take for granted. Perspective changes everything.
Perspective is what allowed Paul to rejoice in a prison cell and exhort the believers in Philippi to do the same thing in their circumstances (Philippians 4:4-23). Paul calls the Philippians to attitudes of joy and reason, so that they may replace anxiety and disappointment with expectant, grateful prayer. The joy that Paul calls for is not a happiness that depends on circumstances, but a deep contentment that is in the Lord, based on trust in the sovereign, living God, and is therefore always available, even in the most difficult of times.
This perspective of joy, gratitude, and contentment was “learned” by Paul (vv. 11-12). This isn’t the kind of stuff that comes naturally to us when we are pressed by frustrations in life. The Greek phrase Paul used here means to learn by disciplined use and practice, such as habit or custom. It must come from the tutorship of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it must be exercised on our part for it to become habit forming.
Where do you need to shift your perspective today? How might you need to learn a new practice of gratitude in the workplace, or with that recent setback or disappointment? Do you need a renewed focus on seeing your problems in proportion to your God, rather than seeing God in the peripheral of your problems? What about a new perspective in the home—how you see your spouse, your children, or your parents? Instead of focusing on the common irritations of doing life together, what if you “learned” the art of seeing the blessings of such intimate togetherness.
What if we learned to “rejoice” with “contentment” in all things? It might sound impossible in our flesh, but under the dominion of the Spirit we have a whole other dimension of possibility. Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we don’t always read the reality of our situation with the right perspective. Forgive us where we have given ourselves to discontentment and irritability over contentment and gratitude. Holy Spirit, be our teacher in helping us to learn a new pattern of rejoicing in all things. Give us that expectancy of your peace, which transcends all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:
- When have you had a sudden or radical shift in perspective?
- What can we learn from Paul’s perspective, writing from a Roman prison cell?
- From this passage, what can we learn about God’s character and faithfulness?
- Considering verses 12-13, what makes it possible for us to learn this new habit of contentment?
- In what specific way are you going to apply God’s truth to your life this week?
