Beacon2Light

Coffee cup commentary Read Philippians 4:10-20 According to Philippians 1:13, Paul was in prison with the location probably being Rome c. AD 60-62.  In Acts 28, we see that Paul was in a rented house, able to receive visitors with a single soldier serving as a guard, probably on a rotating basis. This would be a great place from which to write the Philippians and the house arrest would afford him much time to focus on writing. The passage in Philippians 4 makes it obvious that the Philippians had provided for Paul’s provisions repeatedly (v. 10). This latest generosity on their part was in Paul’s “distress” (v. 14), an apparent reference to his house arrest in Rome which may have included some initial deprivations (vs. 10, 12). However, their giving to Paul and his ministry began much earlier, from the time when he departed Macedonia (15) and again and again while he was spreading the gospel in Thessalonica (16). Evidently, the Philippians were concerned about Paul’s wel...

The frenzy of Christmas preparations is upon us. Shopping, planning for the holy-day feast, seeking to keep disparate members of the family happy by going here today and then there tomorrow can be a logistical nightmare. Yet, in the midst of all the craziness we are drawn to a manger scene from two thousand years ago. Imagine a world where the superpower is Rome; where might makes right. Taxes, the enemy of today, was the enemy back then. A census was taken and people were on the move to their ancestral homesteads across the Promised Land. One couple among hundreds, if not thousands perhaps, arrives in Bethlehem. Door after door announces the news, “Sorry, there is no room.” Finally, one innkeeper takes mercy on the young woman about to give birth. “There is a stable, it’s not much, but there you can find shelter and warmth,” the man apologetically offered. It would have to do, Joseph thought, what else could he do? Mary was weary from the journey and who knows when this chil...