Technicolor Joy: A Seven-Day Devotional by Skip HeitzigExemplo

Seeing in Color

Damascus was life-changing for Paul, but it started him down a road that wasn't easy. When he began preaching Jesus as the Christ, the persecutor became the persecuted. Now he was an enemy in the eyes of the world: "The Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket" (Acts 9:23-25).

After his harrowing escape from Damascus, Paul fled to Jerusalem to meet with church leaders. But they didn't accept him at first, out of fear that he was still working for the enemy (see Acts 9:26). Then a group of Greek-speaking Jews tried to kill him when he wouldn't shut up about Jesus (v. 29). Eventually Paul set out as a missionary to plant churches and share the gospel message. Along the way he was opposed, oppressed, persecuted, mobbed, beaten, and left for dead.

But Paul took it in stride and moved on, establishing churches wherever he went. During his three missionary journeys, Paul was imprisoned at least five times: in Jerusalem, Caesarea, Philippi, and twice in Rome. I wonder if, when Paul entered a city, he didn't first check out the jail to see where he would be spending the night.

When pressed to prove his ministry bona fides, Paul provided a tally of his hardships: five scourgings of thirty-nine lashes from the Jewish authorities, three beatings with rods, one stoning, one shipwreck, and various muggings—not to mention all the sleepless, hungry nights and days spent cold and naked (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). So many horrible things happened to Paul—yet he was still filled with joy. It was like he had been color-blind his whole life until he met Jesus, after which he saw the world and everyone in it in a new way—in living color.

Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church from a Roman prison, not knowing if he would live or die. But one of the very first things he included was this joyful greeting: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy" (Philippians 1:3-4, emphasis added). No matter his circumstances, Paul's constant focus on Christ brought color to his dreary days and joy to his soul. The same can be true for you, too.