In Philippians 3:1, Paul says “Finally, my brothers and sisters rejoice in the Lord.”  I want us to examine this statement, so we can understand how Paul came to this conclusion.  At the end of chapter 2 of Philippians, a brother from Philippi brought gifts to Paul.  After getting to Paul, the brother got sick and came close to death, but the Lord healed him.  That maybe the reason why he started verse 1 with “finally”.   I think it goes deeper.  How do we view God in our lives?  Do we keep the Lord on the shelf until we need His help?  After we get what we need, we rejoice for awhile, then we put Him back on the shelf.  Or, do we try to use everything else to resolve our problems and when they don’t work, we call on the Lord?  I believe Paul wants us to have a healthy relationship with the Lord. This is attainable when we realize that we could not take another breath without the Lord blessing us to do so. When we understand this, we begin to rejoice in the Lord at all times.  Paul does not want us to see the Lord as a last resort, and then rejoice after we are blessed.  If we continue on this path we will not reach our full potential, because we are not growing from the blessings we receive.  I know Paul wants us to grow in the Lord and not limit our rejoicing. He writes in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”.  In order for us to reach our full potential, we need to rejoice always!

I know this sounds good but you don’t know what I’m going through. That is true, but let me share this with you: when Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, he was a prisoner in Rome waiting to go before Caesar.  Paul did not know what he was going to endure, but that did not stop him from rejoicing. Why?  Because, he wanted to reach his full potential, what about you?