Come Follow Me: Philipians & Colossians

Paul wrote his epistles to the Philippians and Colossians while he was a prisoner in Rome. But these letters don’t have the tone you might expect from someone in prison. Paul spoke more about joy, rejoicing, and thanksgiving than he did about afflictions and trials: “Christ is preached,” he said, “and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). And “though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding … the steadfastness of your faith in Christ” (Colossians 2:5). Certainly, “the peace of God” that Paul experienced in his difficult circumstances “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), but it was nonetheless a reality. In our own trials, we can feel this same peace and “rejoice in the Lord alway” (Philippians 4:4). We can, as Paul did, rely completely upon Jesus Christ, “in whom we have redemption” (Colossians 1:14). We can say, as did Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13; see also Colossians 1:11).