Philippians Chapter One
In his commentary on Philippians: Be Joyful, Warren Wiersbe relates: A double minded person is unstable in all their ways (James 1:8). Or, to use the old Latin proverb, “When the pilot doesn’t know what port he is heading for, no wind is the right wind.” The reason so many believers are upset by circumstances is because they don’t cultivate a single mind. The apostle Paul expresses this attitude of single-hearted devotion to Messiah like this: For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain (1:21 CJB).
In Chapter 1, Paul discusses his difficult circumstances and faces them honestly. But his circumstances cannot rob him of his joy because he is not living to enjoy circumstances; he is living to serve Yeshua Messiah. He is a man with purpose, saying: This one thing I do (3:13). He does not look at circumstances in themselves, but rather in relationship to Yeshua Messiah. He was not a prisoner of Rome; he was the prisoner of Yeshua Messiah (Ephesians 3:1). The chains he wore were his chains for Messiah (1:13). He was not facing a civil trial; he was appointed for the defense of the Gospel (1:17 NKJV). He did not look at Messiah through his circumstances; rather, he looked at his circumstances through Messiah . . . and this changed everything.
When a believer is single-minded, he is concerned about the fellowship of the Gospel (1:1-11), the furtherance of the Gospel (1:12-26), and the faith of the Gospel (1:27-30). Paul rejoiced in his difficult circumstances because they helped him strengthen his fellowship with other believers, gave him an opportunity to lead others to Yeshua, and enabled him to defend the Gospel before the courts of Rome. When you have the single mind, your circumstances will work for you, not against you.7
Leave A Comment