Responding to Others

"It's true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice." Phil.1:15-18 NLT

It seems there were some who wanted to get Paul fighting within himself about them. We all know how it feels to fight inwardly when someone we think should not be preaching, or teaching, or whatever - is very busy doing that and getting all the praise and attention. Our questions about why God is blessing them and not us, or why people do not see through them, or why, why, why. We are all familiar with these emotions. Paul cuts right through all that "stuff" with a Holy Spirit empowered emotional response that is born in true love in the Lord, love of His message of grace, love of His people (all of them) and the joy of the message of all messages getting heard and received. Who was preaching and why they were preaching was not Paul's concern. He recognized the problem, but did not let it upset his joy and rejoicing in any way, instead we find him gaining joy in the process.

The Holy Spirit has so trained Paul within his internal heart chambers that he could do nothing but rejoice. What they did or did not do, or what their crooked motives might be, was not at all his concern. He was just delighted that the Gospel was preached. What a clarity of mind, thought and emotion! The Spirit does this with those who seek the placement of resting in Jesus. Because our God is an impartial God, He will do this for any who willingly allow such change.

I am certain that confession and repentance are a part of that, but not the core. Our part is never the core, only the introduction into the secrets of the heart of the Lord. The transformation of our emotions is His area of expertise and we can simply trust Him to address such issues in love then in grace empower life without such inward fighting and ill-will. What an awesome Lord!