Joy in Faithful Ministry

One of the falsehoods believed about the Christian faith is that if I do what is right and follow what is good, then I will have prosperity, blessing, and a blessed life. The reality quite often is, that serving God faithfully can lead to difficulty, persecution, struggle, and pain. For the Apostle Paul, faithful ministry resulted in his being in chains, with a bunch of people working against him to make his life harder. It seems, that in an attempt to rile up the Romans against Paul and the Christians, these people were actually spreading the good news about Jesus. So, what does Paul do? He rejoices---yes, rejoices---over people who preach the Gospel with bad motives because Christ is still being made known. We need to learn that faithfulness to God's purpose and plan for us may not equal a cushy life with chocolate every day. But, it will lead us to a lasting joy that can't be taken away, even if we end up in prison chains. What we will find is that God is faithful to us in the things that are most important and that are full of the most beauty and joy.