Paul calls the Philippians to be humble and obedient in their faith, to not be complaining and grumbling, but rather to take joy in their faith. Even in the midst of the hard work of serving the Lord, we should take joy in everything we do in our faith. Earlier in the letter to the Philippians, Paul stated: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Paul states that we should be confident in what we do, because God is working within us.
I know that in ministry, sometimes it feels like the work never ends. But, even when I am having a long week, even when I feel like my week has been meeting after meeting after meeting, I try to see the joy in my faith and in my service to the Lord, even in the midst of a lot of hard work.
When I was going over a reflection on forgiveness with the inmates in the prison ministry from The Word Among Us, it stated that forgiveness is not a feeling, but rather a decision we make. In some ways, joy is indeed a feeling, but the joy of our faith is not a result of our earthly pleasures, but rather a deep seeded joy that comes from Christ working in us. We must make a decision to recognize the joy we have in our faith. We need to seek the joy of faith, because we will definitely find it if we look.
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