get through

Description

This was prepared as a sermon illustration for May 12th, 2013. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas have been beaten, thrown in prison and placed in stalks. Even so, they sing. Their joy comes from inside them. Meanwhile, their jailer is filled with worry and dread of the pressures of life and his work. So much so, that when it seems his prisoners would surely escape, due to an earthquake, he finds himself considering suicide. The Partridge Family was a 70s sitcom that featured a single mom or 5 who just happened to be a pretty good garage band. Every episode was filled with the problems of real life, yet the family always found a way to get through their problems and sing a song together in the end. Watchers of the show were like the jailer who benefited from the joy of Paul and Silas. In our lives its always good to remember that joy does not come from anything outside us, or materialistic. True joy comes from inside us as a gift of God's grace. It is the result of being truly set free by the love of Christ. In the story, Paul and Silas are in prison, yet they sing because in their hearts they know they are free. Meanwhile, the jailer is a prisoner of worry and regret. Like Paul and Silas, we have the same reason to be happy, a reason to sing, even if it seems that life is difficult. And if they can sing after being beaten, publicly humiliated, thrown into prison and placed stalks...then surely we can sing too.