Independent of my Circumstances
Philippians 4:12
Philippians 4:12 states that Paul had learned to be content in all situations. The idea of his being content actually meant being independent of all outside circumstances. He was not controlled by the uncontrollable. Sounds confusing? Well, I think a good example is Paul singing while in prison. With God’s grace and strength, he was able to do this. It was not of his own doing. He was independent of his outside circumstances because he relied on God.
While it’s a minor outside circumstance that is bothering me, my son has had a minor cough for almost five weeks. He went to the doctor three weeks ago. He was given medicine. Now the medicine is gone. His slight cough has continued. I don’t know when it will go away. The doctor said it was a very minor case of bronchitis. I try to keep him from exhausting himself too much, which is very hard to do since he is a boy. We’ve succeeded in getting him to drink lots of water. I pray for him so often to get better. I cringe when I hear him cough sometimes. But you know what? This isn’t serious in the realm of things. There are so many worse things that happen to little kids, like death, failing organs, mental diseases. I am allowing a little thing like a lingering cough affect me negatively at times. I need to be like Paul. I need to be independent of this outside circumstance.
While situations may differ -a bad day at work, your favorite team lost, your spouse is upset with you- Christians and non-Christians alike, allow their outside circumstances to affect them negatively. I know a person who is friendly all the time. I can never tell if he has a problem or not. He’s not wearing a mask. He simply has a stable personality during all situations. We all may know someone like that, or maybe not. I definitely want to be that type of individual …but I’ve got a long, long, long, way to go. How about you?
