Lesson 29: Joy’s provision
Philippians 4:1-23 – www.bible.com/bible/59/php.4
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
One of the hardest gifts of joy for us as believers in Jesus to accept is the promise of His provision for us if we will make His will the highest priority in our lives. Much too often we are more concerned about receiving His blessing – we seek the gift – than we are about trusting Him, the Giver, to keep His promise.
Everything we can see or hear or touch or understand in this life tells us only THESE things are real – what we cannot see or hear or touch or understand cannot, therefore, be real. But the truth is, our eternal life, where we will spend eternity, is not only very real, it is also far more important than anything which happens to us here in this earthly life. All eternity future will depend on choices we make here. Everything we can accumulate or earn or accomplish here is only temporary if we cannot in some way put it into Heaven’s vaults – see Matthew 6:21.
Read again the verses for this lesson. It is not only our own treasure we must seek; we must also care about the treasure for others around us. Again, as we read in our last lesson, partnership is of great importance to God. If one person needs help, and another person can offer it, partnership is needed. It is not just one taking from the other, or one giving to the other. The one in need must be humble enough to admit their need (James 5:13-18). The one who can give should do so cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). The one receiving is to be thankful both to the person helping and to God who has provided (Ephesians 5:20 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Both are to pray for and encourage each other (Colossians 1:9 and Ephesians 6:18-19).
God supplies all our needs, but He uses people to do so because it gives people like you and me the privilege of storing some of our treasure in Heaven for eternity. Please do not misunderstand – it is not gold or jewels or money which we can send to Heaven for ourselves. God has so much of those things He paves streets and builds walls with them. The greatest treasure we can store in Heaven is the growing Christian life of others whom we have encouraged in their faith in Him. The amazing thing is, when we encourage someone with the intention of storing treasure for ourselves there, we lose it because we have been seeking our own glory rather than God’s. Only when we help and encourage another person without any pride or self-serving motive does this happen.
*With whom are you partnering in encouragement and prayer and help?