25
strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Sunita and her family just returned back
to Washington, DC. While in Rome she and her family visited the Catacombs in
Rome. She said it was overwhelming. All of us live just a breath away from
eternity. Paul lived in the face of both death and life. He made
audacious declarations in Philippians, the last letter he wrote, "Do not be
anxious about anything," "Rejoice in the Lord always," "Work out your
salvation with fear and trembling," "I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me," "To live is Christ, to die is gain." Philippians
1:21 The Apostle
Paul was imprisoned in the city of Rome, facing trial, knowing that he was to be
executed for his faith in Christ, so he wrote a letter to the church in Philippi
to tell them, "This is what I believe: to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Nero was the emperor of Rome
at this time. Paul would have to stand before Nero and give his defense for why
he came under charges. Tacitus, a historian in first century Rome, said about
Nero, the guy the Apostle Paul would be facing:
Besides being put to death, the Christians were made to serve as objects of amusement. They were clothed in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs. Others were crucified. Others were set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his grounds for the display and was putting on a show and a circus where he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer and drove about in his chariot. All this gave rise to a feeling of pity, for it was felt that they—the Christians—were being destroyed not for the public good but to gratify the cruelty of an individual.
This was the culture of
Rome when Paul wrote, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." There was an
emperor torturing Christians to satisfy his own wicked desires and a man
named Paul going up against him. To a person that lives in the Post-modern world life is all about
the self and dying is losing everything. That's very different from what the
Apostle Paul said. Remember, Paul was in prison in Rome, writing to a
church he loved in Philippi, when he said, "I don't know how this is going to
turn out. I'm in prison. My trial is coming up. I don't know if I will be
found guilty and executed. But if I die, I count it as gain because I get to be
with Jesus, and I really want that. Or maybe they'll release me instead. If
they release me, that's great, too. Because I get to be with you. I'll come to
Philippi, I'll see you, I'll encourage you. But no matter what happens, I want
you to continue moving forward in the faith, advancing the
gospel."
In Christ,
Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment