Philippians 1:12-18

12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Even though Paul is a prisoner in Rome, he is spreading the Gospel.  No doubt by preaching Christ to whoever he meets and mostly be the way he lives even in prison.  He lives to serve Christ and because of it, he was persecuted, he is in chains for Christ both literally and figuratively.  This is the way we should live, not the prison part, but to serve Christ in all that we do.  It is hard to live a pure life and without hypocrisy, but whatever light we can shine, Jesus can use it to brighten a whole city or more.

15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.

Just like today, there were people back in Paul’s time that preached, not for the glory of God, but for personal gain.  You see it on TV all the time, the ones that asks for money or donations throughout the sermon, some even have breaks to tell you how God needs the money right now to help spread the Gospel.  God doesn’t need money, He made the world and all that is in it, including the money.  Those televangelists make me mad, I used to think that anybody who watches that will be pushed from God instead of drawn near, that they would just think Christianity is all a scam, but I have to remember that even through these selfish ambitions, God can touch the lives of the people that truely want to know Him.

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God is good, all the time.